“The illegal, motivated and wholly unjustified action by the above two groups has precipitated a fall of `13,000 crore” Reliance said the purported exercise of rights to enforce the security is illegal and excessive

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The Delhi High Court sought response of the Centre and the RBI on a PIL seeking to stop banks from sharing PAN and financial transaction data with credit rating agencies without their formal consent. A bench of chief justice Rajendra Menon and justice V K Rao issued notice to the MoF and the RBI, seeking their stand on the plea. The plea claimed that sharing of a customer's PAN and other transactions with credit rating agencies like Transunion CIBIL affects the person’s right to privacy. Real Estate firm Aparna Constructions on Friday launched premium high rise residential apartment gated community, Aparna One, in Hyderabad. Announcing the launch, Mr Rakesh Reddy, director, Aparna Constructions, said, “At Aparna Constructions, we have always strived to address the ever changing demands of our growing customers. This new project is our endeavour to appeal to the new age home seekers who are looking for premium yet sophisticated living. Ultra-premium segment has started picking up from last one year and consumers today are inclined towards investing a little more to own their ‘dream home’. This project is expected to be delivered to the home buyers by 2022 and we look forward to expanding further.”

The company added that Aparna One, which is situated at Shaikpet, will have around 36 floors with 3.6 metres ceiling height making it the city’s tallest residential tower offerings. The gated community, according to the company is inline with the international sustainability and eco-friendly standards, will have 464 premium units across 6 blocks. The sizes for the apartments range from 2,876sft to 5,216sft. The Anil Ambani-led Reliance Group on Friday accused L&T and Edelweiss entities of "illegal" and "motivated" actions in invoking the pledged shares and selling them in open market, leading to steep declines in the share value of group firms.

Both L&T Finance and Edelweiss Group refuted the allegations by the Reliance Group.

A few Non-Banking Finance Companies, "substantially L&T Finance and certain entities of Edelweiss Group, have invoked pledge of listed shares of Reliance Group and made open market sales of the value of approximately `400 crore from February 4 to 7,” the group said in a statement.

It was not clear who had pledged the shares.

“The illegal, motivated and wholly unjustified action by the above two groups has precipitated a fall of `13,000 crore, an unprecedented nearly 55 per cent, in market capitalisation of Reliance Group over just these four short days,” it noted.

In that period, shares of Reliance Power plunged

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62.1 per cent, while those of Reliance Infrastructure dropped 58.6 per cent, and Reliance Capital fell 38.6 per cent.

The Reliance Group said the actions have caused substantial losses to 72 lakh institutional and retail shareholders, and harming the interests of all stakeholders.

Citing legal advice, the group also said the purported exercise of rights to enforce the security is illegal and excessive, and against the process and requirements of the respective borrowings' documentation.

"The manner of conduct of the above open market sales... is also illegal on several counts, including amongst others, price manipulation, insider trading, front running and market abuse, and is in violation of various regulatory provisions...," said the statement issued during market hours.

Further, the group said that Reliance Capital, Reliance Infrastructure and Reliance Power as well as their various subsidiaries are performing satisfactorily on all operating parameters, and there is no change whatsoever on any aspect as compared to the position prevailing prior to these sales.

Refuting the allegations, L&T Finance said it had granted loans against pledge of shares to Reliance ADAG Group companies.

"As per loan and pledge agreements, borrower did not cure various events of defaults including providing margin for shortfall in the stipulated security cover. "Despite various notices in the past few months, events of defaults continued. Consequently, L&T Finance enforced its rights of invocation and sold pledged shares to the extent of its outstanding dues by following the due process of contract and law," it said in a statement.

While noting that the allegations as "unfounded, baseless and false", Edelweiss Group said it had granted credit facilities against pledge of shares to Reliance ADAG Group.

Edelweiss Group said it has reached out numerous