India’s biggest capex at Rs 6-lakh crore

ET Intelligence Group: In the past six years, Reliance Industries (RIL) has undertaken the biggest capital expenditure in Indian corporate history – of about $93 billion, or Rs 6 lakh crore. Half of that sum has been invested in the telecom business. In FY19, RIL invested Rs 1.32 lakh crore – another record in the sixyear period.

That caused gross borrowing to inflate to Rs 2.88 lakh crore by June 2019, compared with Rs 1.38 lakh crore in FY14. Cash and cash equivalent at the end of June is Rs 1.31 lakh crore.

A mismatch between operating cash flow and capex resulted in negative free cash flow of $10 billion, a negative print for the sixth year in a row. Interest cost has been increasing due to higher debt and outgo, as the proportion of debt in rupee terms is rising. Interest expensed and capitalised reached Rs 26,700 crore in FY19, compared with Rs 17,330 crore in FY18.