Leading oil refining and petrochemicals maker Reliance Industries Tuesday said it would hike its holding in Reliance Infocomm by converting preference shares into equity.

The Reliance Industries board approved a proposal to covert preference shares of Reliance Infocomm into fully paid-up equity shares with face value of one rupee each at a price of Rs.32 per equity share, said a company statement.

Reliance Industries has made an investment of Rs.81 billion, represented by 1.62 billion preference shares, in private sector telecom services major Reliance Infocomm.

Under the new proposal, Reliance Infocomm will allot 2.88 billion shares of face value of one rupee each fully paid-up to Reliance Industries for Rs.92.08 billion, said the statement issued after the board meeting.

This allotment will increase Reliance Industries' holding in Reliance Infocomm to 65.9 percent.

The Reliance Industries board met for the first time since the splitting up of the Reliance group June 18 to settle a seven-month ownership row between the owner Ambani brothers - Mukesh and Anil.

Under the settlement, Mukesh has got complete control over Reliance Industries and Indian Petrochemicals Corporation Ltd. (IPCL).

The younger Ambani has been entrusted the management of power utility Reliance Energy, financial service firm Reliance Capital and Reliance Infocomm.