SC ruling on HPCL a set back: Reliance

Reliance Industries Ltd on Monday said last week's Supreme Court ruling halting the privatisation of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd was a "setback", but hoped that a solution will emerge soon.

"HPCL judgement is a setback...we all hope to find a solution (to the impasse)," RIL chairman Mukesh Ambani told reporters in New Delhi, when asked to comment on the apex court ruling asking the government to go to Parliament for approval of its stake sale in HPCL and BPCL.

Reliance, along with Royal Dutch/Shell, BP Plc, Petronas of Malaysia, Kuwait Petroleum Corp, Saudi Aramco and Essar Oil, was in the race for acquiring the government stake in HPCL.

HPCL, India's third largest oil firm, would have given the buyer a ready network of over 4,800 petrol stations and a fifth of the $15 billion retail market.

Reliance, which owns a 30 million tonnes refinery at Jamnagar in Gujarat, does not have a retail network and sells its products through state-run oil retailers like HPCL.

Asked about the reports of government rejecting RIL's plans to raise a foreign currency loan of $500 million, Ambani, emerging from a meeting with the finance ministry officials, said, "I am not aware of it. If something develops, we will let you know through our official spokesperson."

He also declined to comment on whether the company has obtained a permission for extending the maturity period of the $750 million foreign currency debt.

Asked about the company's plans in case the telecom dispute tribunal TDSAT rules against Reliance Infocomm's WLL mobility, Ambani said, "These are hypothetical questions. We have appropriate legal contingencies for that."