India’s Reliance profit up 9.3% on consumer arms

NEW DELHI: Profits in India’s biggest conglomerate Reliance Industries rose 9.3 percent in the December quarter, company results showed Friday, with a small decline in its petrochemical business offset by consumer division growth.

Reliance is led by Asia’s richest man Mukesh Ambani and is India’s most valuable company by market capitalization. Despite an aggressive expansion into retail, telecoms and green energy, the firm still relies heavily on its traditional oil business to make money.

Net profit was 172.65 billion rupees ($2.08 billion) on-year with operating revenue up 3.5 percent to 2.27 trillion rupees ($27.3 billion). Reliance blamed the topline fall in its oil-to-chemical arm on a decline in benchmark oil prices. “Planned maintenance and inspection shutdown” also hit profitability, its earnings report said. The conglomerate’s refinery margins hit record levels in 2022-23 on buys of cheaper Russian crude—prices of which were hit by sanctions imposed following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine—and exports of refined fuel to Europe.

The gap between Russian exports and other benchmarks has since narrowed with Brent crude prices 30 percent down from their 2022 peak. The company’s consumer divisions remained bright spots with with telecom arm Jio posting a 12.8 percent rise in net profit to 52.08 billion rupees. Gross revenue from its retail business jumped 22.8 percent to 830 billion rupees. The festive season saw footfalls across its stores grow to 282 million for on-year growth of 40.3 percent. Reliance Industries shares ended flat in Mumbai ahead of the earnings announcement.