With the latest stake by Jio Platforms to General Atlantic, have they achieved the target of going zero-net debt for Reliance Industries?

Not yet. Let us look at the numbers for now. General Atlantic Partners has taken a 1.34% stake in Jio Platforms for a sum of Rs.6600 crore. This is the fourth such deal that Jio Platforms has closed. Earlier, Facebook, Silver Lake Partners and Vista Partners had taken a stake in Jio Platforms. Till date, Reliance has managed to monetize 14.8% stake in Jio Platforms for a consideration of Rs.67,500 crore; including the Facebook deal. Another important milestone for RIL is the rights that open on 20 May. But you will be aware that RIL is only collecting 25% of the rights amount in the current tranche. So inflow from rights will only be around Rs.13,100 crore. Now, RIL will have Rs.80,000 crore, which is only half of the total net debt of Rs.161,000 crore as of March 2020. So there are two possibilities. Firstly, Reliance must complete the remaining tranches of the rights issue and do another couple of placements of Jio stake up to 18%-20% in which case it can become zero net debt. The other option is for the Aramco deal to go through soon. The former looks more likely.