Reliance Shares Drop As Farmers Gear Up For Jio Sim Porting

The farmers' movement is now becoming a problem not only for the government but also for Reliance owner Mukesh Ambani. The protesting farmers say that the government wants to benefit industrialists like Ambani and Gautam Adani through the contentious agricultural laws. On December 9, the farmers announced a boycott of big corporate houses after rejecting the government proposal. But the latest headache for Ambani is the anger of farmers towards their mobile network 'Jio'.

Farmers are not only burning sims to register their protest, but are also running campaigns of 'Boycott Jio' and 'Port Jio' on social media. Hashtags made with these names are going viral. Many users started posting about porting their Jio mobile network and Jio Fibernet connection, with screenshots of the porting and SIM cancellation request, and urged others to do the same.

Tribal activist Hansraj Meena tweeted: 'You do not have any award which can be returned in support to the farmers. You get your #JIO SIM ported, you will get the feel of returning an award'.

आपके पास कोई अवॉर्ड नहीं है जिसे वापस करके आप किसानों के समर्थन में खड़े दिखाई दें।

आप अपनी #JIO सिम को पोर्ट करवाइए, आपको अवॉर्ड वापस करने वाली फ़ीलिंग आएगी।

#BoycottRelianceProducts

— Hansraj Meena (@HansrajMeena) December 11, 2020

The official account of #StopAdani, an ongoing movement against Gautam Adani's Bravus Carmichael coal mine project in Australia, also tweeted in support of #BoycottAdaniAmbani and expressed his solidarity with Indian farmers.

Protests were held around Australia today supporting farmers in India pushing back on Modi and Adani’s farm laws which farmers say will make them vulnerable to exploitation. The #StopAdani campaign stands in solidarity with Indian farmers #WeUnitedForFarmers #IStandWithFarmers pic.twitter.com/qRsmPqP68L

— Stop Adani (@stopadani) December 11, 2020

It is clear that the impact of the growing boycott can be seen on Reliance's share prices as well. When the stock market opened on the morning of the Dec 11th, where the price of one share of Reliance was Rs 2035, it fell to 1999 till the market closed.

The farmers' boycott is a turning point for Reliance Jio, which has added new users to its network every month since its launch in September 2016. As of September 2020, Reliance Jio had a 35.19 percent market share, followed by Bharti Airtel with 28.44 percent and Vi with 25.73 percent. Now, it will be interesting to see if the data related to TRAI's subscriber data shows any decline in Jio's user base due to this movement.

However, according to experts, if the public participation in the farmers' agitation intensifies and more people join the boycott, then Reliance may have to pay a heavy price.