RIL was wracked by concerns over the company's future growth on Friday.

As a result, the scrip of the diversified corporate giant declined 2.15% to Rs 267.95 on BSE by 12:20 IST on Friday. Volumes of over 1.5 million shares were notched up on the counter on BSE by then. Reliance Industries came off its intra-day high of Rs 274.45 by then.

RIL has now lost 11.3% from Rs 302 on 8 April 2003.

Market players, particularly institutions, are believed to be offloading heavily on the RIL counter following concerns over the company's future growth.

As per market talk, over the last few sessions, Jardine Fleming and DSP Merrill Lynch were conspicuously selling on the counter.

The market seems to be taking a negative view of the huge investments made by the company in its new telecom venture. The telecom sector is facing a recession on a global scale and that means that venture will not generate the expected revenues in the near term.

There have been reports that the company has even postponed its telecom launch, which was scheduled for 1 May 2003.

It is held that the company's fourth quarter performanceis also not up to the expected mark. For the fourth quarter ended 31 March 2003, RIL recorded a 32% rise in net profit to Rs 1,101 crore (Rs 11.01 billion) on a 29% increase in net sales to Rs 13,962 crore (Rs 139.62 billon).

Analysts say, though a first look at the results may prove cheering, the fact that operating margins are down by around 4% to 14.5% is disheartening. In fact, were it not for the change in tax liability -deferred tax write back of Rs 15 crore against a tax liability of Rs 280 crore (Rs 2.8 billion) last year - net profit growth would have been much lower. A noteworthy point is that margins are under pressure at a time when petrochemical product prices are looking up!

For the full year, the company recorded a 27% increase in net profit to Rs 4,104 crore (Rs 41.04 billion) on a 10% rise in net sales to Rs 50,096 crore (Rs 500.96 billion).

RIL is basically a petrochemicals maker (the largest in the country) and a petroleum refiner (after it merged group company Reliance Petroleum with itself). The company has emerged as one among the largest private sector players in the oil exploration segment as well.

The promoters hold 44% equity stake in RIL, while the public, domestic and foreign institutions hold 15%, 13% and 26% respectively.

BSE code: 500325