India’s oil-to-telecoms conglomerate Reliance Industries surpassed on Friday Exxon as the world’s second most valuable firm doing business in energy after Saudi Arabia’s oil giant Aramco.

Reliance Industries is the most valuable company in India and has diversified operations, including oil refining. Its market capitalization hit US$189 billion (14.1 trillion Indian rupees) on Friday, overtaking Exxon’s market capitalization, Indian media report.

Early on Friday, Exxon’s market capitalization was US$185.58 billion.

Reliance Industries became the first Indian company to hit a market capitalization of more than 14 trillion Indian rupees, equal to US$187 billion. Its shares have been rising in recent weeks after tech giants such as Google invested in Reliance’s Jio Platforms, while Amazon is reportedly considering buying a stake of 9.9 percent in Reliance Retail.

Over the past five weeks, Reliance Industries has added US$39 billion to its market value, according to The Economic Times. In the past 14 trading sessions alone, Reliance Industries’ shares surged so much that they added US$29 billion to the company’s market cap.  

The Indian conglomerate, however, is not an energy firm per se, and most of the market rally in recent weeks was thanks to its digital and retail operations, not the oil industry.

Regardless, Reliance Industries became the second most valuable company involved in the energy business in the world.

Saudi Aramco of Saudi Arabia, which has been trading on the Saudi Stock Exchange, Tadawul, since December 2019, has a market capitalization of more than US$1.7 trillion and is not only the most valuable energy company in the world but also the most valuable company in any sector. Saudi Aramco is more valuable than the likes of Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, or Alphabet.

Earlier this month, Apple was close to overtaking Aramco when its market cap jumped to just over US$1.7 trillion, compared to Aramco’s US$1.78 trillion based on current exchange rates. Early on Friday, Apple’s market cap was US$1.58 trillion.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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