72 million and counting: Jio continues to push up shares of Reliance Industries

Shares of Reliance Industries on Monday touched 52-week high as 72 million customers joined Jio Prime membership. At 1245 hours, shares of Reliance Industries were trading at Rs 1366.55 per piece, up 3.59%, or Rs 47.35 on BSE. 

On Friday, which was the last day of Jio Prime membership, Reliance Industries said that over 72 million customers subscribed for Jio Prime. 

Looking at the "tremendous" response, the company has extended subscription deadline to April 15, 2017. 

Additionally, the company will also offer ‘Jio Summer Surprise’ wherein every Prime member will be offered complementary free services for a period of three months.

RIL shares filled investors pockets

In November, 2015, RIL had launched Jio services for its employees. Shares of RIL was trading at Rs 965.85 per piece. 

It was only in September 2016 when Mukesh Ambani, CMD, Reliance Industries officially launched Reliance Jio for the public. At the time of Jio's official launch, shares of Reliance Industries were at Rs 1083.70 per piece. 

Edelweiss analysts Sandip Agarwal  and Pranav Kshatriya said, “We believe, RJIO’s Rs 303 tariff offering unlimited voice and 1GB per day data provide meaningful value for subscribers versus Bharti’s average 419 minute voice and 0.97GB per month data and Idea’s 385min voice and 0.70GB per month data.”

Within six months of launch the company managed to get 100 million customers with 60,000 employees and over 10 lakh retail partners. 

In February, the company announced Jio Prime Membership, or a loyalty programme. Shares of the company were trading at Rs 1238.05 per piece at this time.  

Now, when the company, on March 31, extended the deadline of Jio Prime subscription till April 15 and gathered 72 million people who paid Rs 99 for a year, shares surged on Monday and touched nine-year high.

Reliance Industries shares have given nearly 43% returns to its investors since November 2016.