Reliance Industries Posts Record Quarterly Profit of ₹29,550 Crore on Refining Strength

Synopsis

Record quarterly earnings: Reliance Industries has posted record profit after tax at ₹29,550 crore and gross revenue grew by 27.8 per cent to ₹3.62 lakh crore in the September quarter. It also recorded its best performance in the oil-to-chemicals segment, aided by favourable fuel markets, as well as subscriber additions by Jio Platforms. Reliance Retail's profit declined by 24.3 per cent. The profit attributable to shareholders rose by 40.6 per cent to ₹25,548 crore. The results were revealed on 30th October.

Record headline numbers

Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) on Friday announced its highest ever consolidated gross revenue of ₹3,62,268 crore in the July-September quarter, rising 27.8 per cent. The combined EBITDA grew by 23.9 per cent to hit a new high of ₹62,409 crore. Profit after tax (including associates and joint ventures) increased by 33.8 per cent to ₹29,550 crore. Profit of the shareholders rose to ₹25,548 crore, which is a 40.6 per cent increase. The first-half profit after tax touched ₹52,746 crore.

Oil-to-chemicals leads

The oil-to-chemicals (O2C) business saw its EBITDA increase 67.9 per cent to ₹25,203 crore, while revenue grew 44.2 per cent to ₹2,31,601 crore. The company attributed better transportation-fuel refining margins and improved petrochemical margins to global supply disruptions. Performance was driven by tight fuel markets, better downstream petrochemical deltas and strong domestic demand, Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh D. Ambani said.

The company's presentation, said in summary by a portal to the market, shows that the prices of crude advanced 40.6 per cent year-on-year in the quarter and transportation-fuel cracks hit record levels. The company reported that the first half performance of its O2C is on track for an annualised EBITDA of more than ₹ 80,000 crore.

The fortunes are varied in consumer businesses

Jio Platforms' profit grew 13.7 per cent, as ARPU reached ₹218.8 and net additions in the company stood at 9.1 million. Reliance Retail gross revenue grew by 6.4 per cent to ₹91,716 crore, but its EBITDA before a one-time impairment charge dipped 8.6 per cent to ₹6,228 crore while PAT declined 24.3 per cent to ₹2,611 crore.

The company blamed the difficulty on the festive calendar as the December quarter approaches and a lack of investment in digital commerce and input-cost inflation absorbed by customers. The retail network had 19,947 stores. The revenue is up 10.1 per cent, while JioStar's EBITDA from operations declined 10.5 per cent.

Balance sheet

The net debt was ₹1.17 lakh crore while cash was ₹2.68 lakh crore. Capital expenditure during the quarter was at ₹38,153 crore. The ratio of net debt to annualised EBITDA was 0.47.

What lies ahead

The investor presentation said that the key festive selling season in 2026 will be in the December quarter, as the main festivals will be on October 11 (Navratri) and November 8 (Diwali), compared with September 22 and October 20 last year. The next results for Retail will therefore be for the season that the September quarter missed.