The RIL board also proposed an interim dividend of Rs 13 per share for 2008-09. A senior company official said that the divident will entail an outgo of Rs 2,219 crore, which will include Rs 322 crore in taxes. The audited results of RIL for the year ended March 31, 2009, was also approved by the board.

RIL in a notice to the stock exchange said that in its meeting on October 7, the board of directors have recommended, subject to the approval of the share holders, bonus shares in the ratio of one equity share of Rs 10 each fully paid up for every one equity share of Rs 10 each of the company.

Alok Agarwal, RIL's Chief Financial Offifer (CFO) said that the Reliance Petroleum share holders will also get the same bonus and interim dividend. RIL had created value of Rs 2,47,000 crore in market capitalisation since its demerget with the group and thus the shareholders have earned a 40 per cent compounded return. He further added that RIL was now ready to invest for the future as it has a strong balance sheet, large cash reserves and a great deal of financial flexibility because of its Treasury stock holdings, which are currently calued at nearly Rs 40,000 crore. He said that the company recently sold 1.5 crore treasury shares worth Rs.3,188 crore.

RIL is presently locked in a battle with Reliance Natural Resources Ltd because of the pricing of gas from the KG basin. Also the analysts expect the RIL share bonus issue to put some pressure on the Anil Ambani group and it wouldn't be surprising if they also come up with such similar announcement.