RIL telecoms unit to raise $2.2 bln via rights issue of shares

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Reliance Industries Ltd's telecommunications unit said its board had approved a plan to raise 150 billion rupees ($2.2 billion) via rights issue of shares to existing shareholders, ahead of an expected launch of its services in the second quarter.

Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd will be issuing 15 billion equity shares of 10 rupees each to the shareholders of the company, it said in a statement late on Monday. It did not say how it plans to use the proceeds.

The country's already crowded telecommunications industry is bracing for the arrival of Reliance Jio, which had been due to launch the country's biggest high speed 4G broadband network around December last year.

 

Analysts and industry executives now expect the launch of the telecoms business run by India's richest man, Mukesh Ambani, to be delayed until at least April this year.

($1 = 67.6600 rupees)

(Reporting by Promit Mukherjee; Editing by Anand Basu)