Moody's Investors Service has affirmed Reliance Industries (RIL) Baa2 domestic long-term issuer rating and foreign currency senior unsecured rating.

At the same time, Moody's has also affirmed the Baa2 senior unsecured debt ratings on the foreign currency bonds issued by RIL and Reliance Holding USA, Inc. with a guarantee from RIL.

The outlook on the domestic long-term issuer rating is positive, while the outlook on the foreign currency senior unsecured rating is stable. The outlook on Reliance Holding USA, Inc. is stable.

''The affirmation of RIL's ratings and outlook reflects our expectation that the company's EBITDA will increase by about USD3-4 billion by fiscal year ending March 2018 (FY18), as it completes its key projects, including those related to petcoke gasification, and the expansion of the capacity for its refinery off-gas cracker and petrochemical operations,'' said Vikas Halan, a Moody's vice president and senior credit officer.

''Although ongoing capital spending will weaken RIL's credit metrics in the fiscal year ending March 2016 - despite an improvement in EBITDA - they will improve beyond our upgrade thresholds by the fiscal year ending March 2018, as the company's ongoing projects start generating cash flows,'' said Halan, who is also the lead analyst for RIL at Moody's.

RIL is currently in the middle of its 3-year capital expenditure program of Rs 2.3 trillion - its largest ever - which started in the fiscal year ended March 2014.

Shares of the company gained Rs 33.95, or 3.71%, to settle at Rs 949.90. The total volume of shares traded was 388,912 at the BSE (Thursday).