Reliance completes merger of Star Television Productions with Jiostar; RIL shares drop as retail arm restructures

Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) has quietly ticked off two big strategic moves that reshape both its media and consumer businesses: the long‑planned merger of Star Television Productions Ltd (STPL) into Jiostar, and a major internal rejig of Reliance Retail’s FMCG arm into a new vehicle, New Reliance Consumer Products Ltd (New RCPL). ^[1]

Both developments have been disclosed via regulatory filings over the past 48 hours and are now being digested by investors on 3 December 2025, even as RIL’s share price trades under mild pressure.

Key highlights

STPL, which owns the ‘Star’ brand, has been merged into Jiostar, the joint venture that combines Reliance’s media assets with Disney’s India business. ^[2]
The merger became effective on 30 November 2025 at 6:09 pm IST, bringing the ‘Star’ intellectual property directly under Jiostar. ^[3]
Jiostar – valued at about $8.5 billion at formation – reported ₹7,232 crore in revenue and ₹1,322 crore profit after tax in the September quarter. ^[4]
Reliance Retail has completed an internal restructuring, transferring its FMCG and consumer brands business into New RCPL, now a direct RIL subsidiary with an 83.56% stake. ^[5]
Despite the strategic moves, RIL shares fell about 1.14% on 2 December and were down around 0.5% at the latest update on 3 December 2025. ^[6]

Merger puts the ‘Star’ brand fully under Jiostar

According to multiple stock‑exchange filings and media reports, Reliance Industries has completed the merger of Star Television Productions Ltd (STPL), a wholly‑owned subsidiary, with Jiostar (formerly Star India). ^[7]

STPL’s primary role has been to own the ‘Star’ brand and license it to group companies that run the channels and related businesses. ^[8] With the merger now effective, that intellectual property is no longer parked in a separate Reliance entity but has moved directly into Jiostar, the joint venture that houses the combined TV and streaming businesses of Reliance and Disney in India. ^[9]

Key points on the merger structure:

The scheme of arrangement was first announced on 14 November 2024, when RIL disclosed plans to merge STPL into Star India, which has since been renamed Jiostar India Private Ltd. ^[10]
On 30 November 2025, Jiostar informed RIL that all conditions had been met and the scheme had become effective the same day, resulting in STPL standing merged with Jiostar. ^[11]
The transaction is intended to simplify the corporate structure around the Star brand, which continues to sit on a huge bouquet of general entertainment, movie and sports channels. ^[12]

Effectively, the brand that has defined Indian pay‑TV for nearly three decades will now sit on the same balance sheet as the operating assets that use it – from Star Sports to the rebranded entertainment channels under Jiostar.

What Jiostar looks like after the deal

Jiostar itself is a relatively new creature. It was born in November 2024, when Reliance’s media business was combined with Disney’s India media operations in a landmark deal valued at about $8.5 billion. ^[13]

The joint venture now:

Operates 100+ television channels across entertainment and sports under the Star and associated brands. ^[14]
Controls JioHotstar, the streaming platform created in February 2025 by merging JioCinema and Disney+ Hotstar. ^[15]
Reported ₹7,232 crore in revenue and ₹1,322 crore PAT in the quarter ended September 2025, making it one of India’s most profitable media companies. ^[16]

By moving STPL into Jiostar, Reliance and Disney are tidying up the ownership of the ‘Star’ IP. Industry coverage notes that future decisions about how the ‘Star’ name is used, extended or repositioned will now be taken directly at the JV level, rather than through internal licensing arrangements. ^[17]

For Jiostar’s management, that means:

Easier brand governance across TV, digital and sports.
Cleaner economics (no separate intra‑group royalty flows for Star trademarks).
Greater flexibility if the JV wants to refresh, regionalise or even gradually pivot away from the ‘Star’ name in favour of the Jio family of brands in digital environments.

Reliance Retail’s internal shake‑up: New RCPL takes centre stage

Parallel to the media restructuring, Reliance has also reorganised its FMCG and consumer brands business within the retail arm.

According to filings summarised by The Economic Times and Upstox: ^[18]

Reliance Retail Ltd (RRL) and Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd (RRVL) have transferred their FMCG and consumer brands business into a newly created entity called New Reliance Consumer Products Ltd (New RCPL).
The restructuring became effective on 1 December 2025. The earlier Reliance Consumer Products Ltd (RCPL) has been dissolved as part of the scheme. ^[19]
New RCPL is now a direct subsidiary of RIL, in which the parent will hold 83.56%, with the remaining stake mirroring the minority investors’ holdings in RRVL. ^[20]
As consideration for the demerger of the consumer brands business from RRVL, shareholders of RRVL will receive one share of New RCPL for every two shares held in RRVL, effectively mirroring their economic interest in the carved‑out business. ^[21]

The restructuring comes on the back of rapid growth:

RCPL crossed ₹11,000 crore in revenue within roughly three years of its launch in FY25 and clocked ₹9,850 crore in gross revenue in the first half of FY26 alone. ^[22]
RRVL reported a consolidated turnover of ₹3.30 lakh crore in FY25, underlining the scale of the overall retail platform. ^[23]

In strategic terms, shifting the brands business into New RCPL and making it a direct RIL subsidiary gives the group more optionality: it can eventually list, invite a strategic partner, or run the business with a sharper FMCG‑focused investor narrative, while keeping the stores and physical retail assets anchored in RRVL.

How the market is reacting

Despite the clear strategic direction, equity markets have taken a cautious stance.

On 2 December 2025, RIL was among the notable losers in the NIFTY50, closing down about 1.14%, according to Upstox’s “Top gainers and losers” report. The broader indices also ended lower, with the Sensex shedding over 500 points and the NIFTY50 slipping about 144 points amid profit‑booking in large caps. ^[24]
Upstox’s detailed note on RIL points out that the stock was trading in the red on Tuesday despite the announcement that STPL had formally merged with Jiostar and that Reliance Retail’s internal restructuring had been completed. ^[25]
As of the latest update on 3 December 2025, Reliance shares were quoted around ₹1,538, down roughly 0.5% from the previous close, valuing the company at just over ₹20.9 lakh crore, according to live data from Upstox. ^[26]

The muted price action suggests investors are:

Digesting complexity: Both the Jiostar and New RCPL transactions are balance‑sheet and structure heavy. The economic benefits – such as lower royalty leakages or easier monetisation routes – are likely to show up gradually.
Watching for next catalysts: Markets may wait for clearer signals on potential listings, stake sales, or new partners in either Jiostar or the consumer brands business before materially re‑rating the stock.
Reacting to broader macro: The downturn on 2 December was not Reliance‑specific; banking and other index heavyweights also dragged the benchmarks lower. ^[27]

Why the Star–Jiostar integration matters

For the media and entertainment industry, the STPL–Jiostar merger is about more than just tidying up corporate diagrams.

1. Cleaner ownership of a legacy brand

For decades, ‘Star’ has been one of the most recognisable names in Indian television. Having the brand and the operating assets in different entities can create friction when it comes to:

Launching new channels or digital products under the Star name.
Negotiating long‑term sponsorship and advertising deals tied to brand continuity.
Executing cross‑platform campaigns spanning TV, streaming and sports.

By bringing the IP into Jiostar, those decisions are centralised at the JV board level, where both Reliance and Disney are represented. ^[28]

2. Aligning with the JioStar / JioHotstar story

The merger also dovetails with Jiostar’s ongoing brand evolution:

Disney Star has already been repositioned under the Jiostar trading name as the joint venture identity. ^[29]
On streaming, JioHotstar has rapidly scaled up after unifying JioCinema and Disney+ Hotstar. The platform’s growth has been fuelled by mass‑market sports rights and a deep entertainment library. ^[30]

As the JV continues to balance Star, Jio, and JioHotstar brands, owning the Star marks outright removes an internal licensing variable from that branding calculus.

3. Competitive context

The consolidation also comes against a backdrop where rival broadcasters have struggled to pull off mega‑mergers – most notably the Sony–Zee deal, which was officially terminated in January 2024 after protracted negotiations. ^[31]

With Reliance and Disney now operating a unified media powerhouse via Jiostar, and with Star IP fully onboard, the JV is better placed to:

Negotiate high‑stakes sports and content rights.
Bundle connectivity, content and commerce across the wider Jio ecosystem.
Offer advertisers integrated TV + digital packages at scale.

What the retail restructuring signals

On the consumer side, the New RCPL move underscores Reliance’s long‑term FMCG ambitions.

Within just a few years of entering the FMCG market in 2022, the group has: ^[32]

Launched its own brands such as Independence.
Acquired legacy labels including Campa Cola.
Built a presence across categories from soft drinks and staples to home care and personal care.

Carving out the brands business into a direct RIL subsidiary offers several potential advantages:

Valuation clarity: Investors can more easily benchmark New RCPL against pure‑play FMCG peers, rather than treating it as a small slice inside a sprawling retail conglomerate.
Strategic partnerships: If Reliance seeks a global FMCG or consumer investor to co‑develop the business, doing that at the New RCPL level is cleaner.
Eventual listing flexibility: While no such listing has been announced, having a standalone vehicle makes an IPO or separate fundraising structurally straightforward if the group ever chooses that path.

What to watch next

For investors, analysts and industry watchers, a few questions will determine how meaningful these moves become over time:

Will Jiostar pursue a separate listing?
The JV is already large and profitable. A future listing – either in India or overseas – could unlock value for RIL and Disney, but would require clarity on long‑term governance, capital needs and regulatory approvals.
How aggressively will JioHotstar monetise its scale?
With Star IP fully aligned and streaming consolidated, the focus is likely to shift to pricing power, advertising yield and cross‑bundling with Jio connectivity products. ^[33]
Can New RCPL become a top‑tier FMCG player?
Crossing ₹11,000 crore in revenue early is impressive, but Reliance is still up against entrenched incumbents with deep rural networks and brand loyalty. Execution on distribution, innovation and pricing will be key. ^[34]
How quickly does the market reward the restructuring?
For now, RIL’s share price reaction is subdued, shaped as much by index‑level profit‑taking as by company‑specific news. Sustained re‑rating will probably depend on hard numbers – margin expansion at Jiostar, faster FMCG growth, or progress toward monetisation events.

Quick FAQ

What exactly has Reliance announced about Jiostar?
That its subsidiary Star Television Productions Ltd, which owned the ‘Star’ brand, has been merged into Jiostar, the joint venture that houses its combined media operations with Disney’s India business. The merger became effective on 30 November 2025. ^[35]

What is New Reliance Consumer Products Ltd (New RCPL)?
New RCPL is the new home for Reliance’s FMCG and consumer brands business. The business has been demerged from Reliance Retail entities and moved into this company, which is now a direct subsidiary of RIL with an 83.56% stake. ^[36]

Why did RIL shares fall if the news is positive?
Short‑term price moves often reflect broader market sentiment. On 2 December 2025, benchmark indices fell and RIL slid about 1.14%, with further mild weakness seen around 3 December 2025. Investors may be taking profits while waiting to see how these restructurings translate into earnings and potential value‑unlocking events. ^[37]

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