Mumbai: For Reliance Communications, repaying its debt was not just about business but a moral imperative, Reliance Group Chairman Anil Ambani said while announcing the roadmap to cutting RCOM’s debt to Rs 6,000 crore.

Replying to a question on Tuesday, Ambani said: “This is not just about business and repaying debt. Morally, what is right has to be done. That’s always been our approach to business.”   While stressing that “we have always stood by those who have supported and believed in us”, Ambani added: “Only moral financing prevails.”

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RCOM’s decision to drastically cut debt and pay back lenders was widely welcomed on social media, with the hashtag  #AnilAmbaniWalksTheTalk trending at No.3 in India on Wednesday.  Ambani had said on Tuesday that the company has achieved full resolution of RCOM’s debt, cutting it by Rs 25,000 crore to Rs 6,000 crore by monetising assets.

“We have achieved full resolution that involves Reliance Communications exiting strategic debt recast. What we have achieved, in the face of extraordinary challenges, is truly historic and unprecedented in Indian corporate history. RCOM debt will reduce by Rs 25,000 crore.”

He added that the “entire monetisation process to repay debt of lenders will be completed by January-March 2018 in a phased manner”.  Saying there would be no write-off for any lender or bondholder, Ambani also noted that there will be “no conversion of debt to equity”.    The RCOM stock rose sharply on Tuesday’s announcement, closing 30.78 per cent higher at Rs 21.33. It rose to a high of Rs 26.66 on Wednesday.