Supreme Court defers nod for Reliance Communications asset sale

In a set back to debt-laden Reliance Communications Ltd (RCom), the Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday deferred a decision to lift the freeze on the sale of company’s wireless assets to rival Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd (Jio), saying it will hear the case again on April 5.

The SC directed maintenance of status quo on the sale of assets of Reliance Communication to Reliance Jio on a plea of a banks’ consortium challenging a stay order of a tribunal.

The top court refused to lift the stay ordered by the arbitral tribunal and set aside the March 8 order of Bombay High Court by which RCom’s petition was dismissed.

Following the SC order, RCom exuded confidence that its asset monetisation programme will be completed ‘expeditiously’, much ahead of the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) prescribed deadline of 31 August, 2018.

The company’s shares dropped as much as 6.9% after the ruling.