RIL slips 2% amid profit taking as Co delays JioPhone Next launch

JioPhone Next, developed in partnership with Google, is now likely to be launched around the Diwali festive season

Shares of Reliance Industries (RIL) slipped 2 per cent at Rs 2,382.85 on the BSE in the intra-day trade on Monday amid profit taking after the company's telecom arm Reliance Jio delayed the launch of its affordable smartphone, JioPhone Next, which was developed in partnership with Google, owing to the ongoing semiconductor shortage globally.

The phone will now be available "more widely" around the Diwali festive season in India as against the porposed date of September 10, 2021.

The stock of the country's most valuable company, in terms of market capitalisation, had hit a record high of Rs 2,479.85 on September 6, 2021. Despite today’s decline, the stock has outperformed the market by surging 11 per cent in the past one month, when compared to a 5 per cent rise in the S&P BSE Sensex.

Jio and Google announced on Thursday, September 9, 2021, that they have made considerable progress towards launching the much-awaited JioPhone Next, the made-for-India smartphone being jointly designed by the companies.

"Both companies have begun testing JioPhone Next with a limited set of users for further refinement and are actively working to make it available more widely in time for the Diwali festive season. This additional time will also help mitigate the current industry-wide, global semiconductor shortages," Jio and Google said in media release.

JioPhone Next is built with exciting features like the Google Assistant, automatic read-aloud and language translation for any on-screen text, a smart camera with India-centric filters and much more. The companies remain committed to their vision of opening up new possibilities for millions of Indians, especially those who will experience the internet for the very first time, the release added.

Meanwhile, according to media reports Relaince's Jio and UK's British Petroleum (BP) have tied up with EV ride-hailing platform BluSmart to set up electric vehicle charging infrastructure (for PV and 2-W) in India. In the first phase, Jio-BP will set up EV charging stations in Delhi-NCR with minimum capacity of 30 vehicles at each station. Jio-BP aims to expand its petrol pump network to 5,500 in the next five years from the current network of just over 1,400 petrol pumps.