Reliance Industries to announce Q3 results on January 16; Recent fall out reason and further prospects.

Reliance Industries has informed stock exchanges that its Board of Directors will meet on Friday, January 16, 2026, to consider and approve the company’s financial results for the third quarter.

Reasons of Recent Fall off

CLSA is a global brokerage firm and they maintain an “India Model Portfolio,” which is a recommended list of stocks that institutional funds (like pension funds or hedge funds) follow or copy.

When news breaks that “CLSA dropped Reliance,” it means they removed it from this recommended list, which forced many funds that track CLSA’s advice to sell their shares simultaneously.

CLSA officially removed Reliance Industries from its India Model Portfolio.

• Reason: The brokerage decided to shift its focus toward “affordable consumption” and “rate-sensitive” sectors.
• Replacements: They replaced RIL with Avenue Supermarts (DMart) and a company named Eternal. This move was a major factor in the 4.4% stock price crash on that day

Summary Table: CLSA’s Recent Stance on RIL

Date	Action	Sentiment
Jan 6, 2026	Removed from Model Portfolio	Bearish/Neutral (Shift to Retail/IT)
Jan 4, 2025	Retained in 2025 Portfolio	Bullish
June 5, 2024	Retained post-elections	Cautious but Bullish
Aug 2023	Raised Target Price to ₹3,060*	Highly Bullish

Other Brokerage Reactions and Targets of Reliance Industries

While CLSA made headlines yesterday by dropping Reliance from its model portfolio, the broader sentiment among global and domestic institutional brokerages remains overwhelmingly bullish.¹

In fact, out of 37 analysts tracking the stock, 35 still maintain a “Buy” or “Overweight” rating for 2026.² Here is a breakdown of the major firms that still consider Reliance a “Top Pick”:

1. Morgan Stanley (Most Bullish)

Morgan Stanley has been the most vocal supporter of RIL entering 2026. They have labeled 2026 as the “Year of Catalysts” for the company.³

• Rating: Overweight⁴
• Target Price: ₹1,847 (approx.⁵ 18-20% upside)
• View: They expect a re-rating in every single quarter of 2026, driven by a refining up-cycle (Q1), telecom tariff hikes (Q2), and the rollout of New Energy/Jio IPO (Q3/Q4).⁶

2. Goldman Sachs

Goldman Sachs recently included Reliance in its list of “14 Stocks to Lead the Next Indian Bull Run” through late 2026.

• View: They project the Nifty to hit 29,000 by the end of 2026 and see Reliance as a core driver of this growth due to its expansion into AI data centers and green hydrogen.

3. Jefferies

Despite the geopolitical noise around Russian oil, Jefferies has reiterated its bullish stance.⁷

• Rating: Buy
• Target Price: ₹1,785⁸
• View: They highlight the massive scaling of Reliance’s FMCG business (which is growing 100% YoY) and the “favorable risk-reward” because the stock is still trading below its long-term average valuation (EV/EBITDA).⁹

4. J.P. Morgan

J.P. Morgan continues to favor Reliance over other retail and telecom peers.

• Rating: Overweight¹⁰
• Target Price: ₹1,727¹¹
• View: They believe the current valuation is “attractive” compared to D-Mart or Bharti Airtel, and they expect significant earnings momentum as the company transitions from a “Capex Phase” to a “Monetization Phase” in 2026.

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Comparison of Brokerage Targets (2026 Outlook)

Brokerage	Rating	Target Price	Key Growth Driver Identified
Morgan Stanley	Overweight	₹1,847	Quarterly Monetization Catalysts
UBS	Buy	₹1,820	Recovery in O2C Operating Profit
Jefferies	Buy	₹1,785	FMCG Scale-up & Jio IPO
Motilal Oswal	Buy	₹1,765	New Energy & Battery Manufacturing
J.P. Morgan	Overweight	₹1,727	Valuation Re-rating vs Peers

Reliance Historic Price vs P/E ratio

Evaluating whether Reliance Industries (RIL) is “cheap” requires looking past just the price tag and focusing on valuation multiples like the P/E (Price-to-Earnings) ratio and EV/EBITDA.¹

Following the 4.4% fall on January 6, 2026, the stock has moved into a valuation zone that many analysts consider attractive compared to its historical norms.

1. P/E Ratio Comparison (Consolidated)

The P/E ratio tells you how much investors are willing to pay for every ₹1 of profit.²

Metric	Current Value (Jan 7, 2026)	5-Year Average	Status
P/E Ratio	~24.5x	25.2x	Slightly Cheap
5-Year High	31.0x (March 2022)	—	Discount of ~21%
5-Year Low	23.3x (March 2023)	—	Near Support

Analysis: Historically, RIL has traded at a premium due to its dominant position in Telecom and Retail. Trading at 24.5x puts it slightly below its long-term average of 25.2x. In the stock market, when a “blue-chip” stock trades below its 5-year mean, it is technically considered to be in the “Value Zone.”

2. EV/EBITDA (The “Institutional” Metric)

Since Reliance has significant debt (from its massive 5G and Retail expansion), big funds prefer EV/EBITDA because it accounts for debt and cash.

• Current EV/EBITDA: ~12.4x – 13.6x
• 5-Year Average: ~15.2x
• The Verdict: On an EV/EBITDA basis, Reliance looks significantly cheaper than it has been for most of the last five years. This indicates that the company’s operating earnings (EBITDA) have grown faster than its enterprise value.

3. Why it might be “Cheap” (The Opportunity)

• Sector Discount: Compared to its peers in the Retail and Digital space (like D-Mart at 100+ P/E or Trent at 150+ P/E), Reliance Retail is being valued much more conservatively within the RIL parent company.
• The “IPO” Factor: Markets are not yet fully pricing in the potential value of the Jio IPO or the Retail IPO. When these subsidiaries are eventually listed, they usually “unlock” value, making the current parent share price look cheap in hindsight.

Conclusion: Is it technically “Cheap”?

Yes, technically it is. RIL is currently trading at a 3-5% discount to its 5-year average P/E and a 15% discount to its 5-year average EV/EBITDA.

Telecom: Reliance Jio vs. Bharti Airtel

Jio is currently being valued by global brokerages (like Jefferies) at a premium to Airtel because of its higher data usage per user and 5G leadership.

Metric	Reliance Jio (Segment)	Bharti Airtel (Listed Peer)	Comparison
P/E Ratio	~28x – 30x (Est.)	~44.1x – 55.1x	Airtel trades at a higher P/E due to its premium brand positioning.
EV/EBITDA	~15.0x	~14.9x	Jio is valued slightly higher than Airtel on an operating profit basis.
ARPU	₹211.4	₹233 (Est.)	Airtel still leads in Revenue Per User.

Reliance Retail vs. Avenue Supermarts (DMart)

This is where the biggest valuation gap exists. DMart is a “pure-play” retail stock with a “scarcity premium,” which is why its valuation is much higher than what the market “assigns” to Reliance Retail inside the parent company.

Metric	Reliance Retail (Segment)	Avenue Supermarts (DMart)	Comparison
P/E Ratio	~35x – 40x (Implied)	~81.2x – 86.8x	DMart is over 2x more expensive than Reliance Retail’s implied value.
EV/EBITDA	~22.0x (Est.)	~50.9x – 53.7x	DMart commands a massive premium for its “debt-free” and “focused” model.
Store Count	19,800+	442	Reliance is nearly 45x larger in physical reach.