RIL posts record profit on margins boost, Jio show

Oil-to-telecom conglomerate Reliance Industries on Friday reported its highest quarterly net profit of Rs 9,423 crore on record earnings from petrochemical business and telecom unit Jio logging its first ever profit.

Consolidated net profit of Rs 9,423 crore, or Rs 16 per share, in October-December was 25.1% higher than Rs 7,533 crore, or Rs 12.8 a share, in the same quarter of last fiscal, the company said.

Jio, which with 160.1 million subscribers is the world's largest and fastest growing mobile data network, turned positive "in only the second quarter of commercial operations", logging a net profit of Rs 504 crore, it said.

Reliance Jio Infocomm, or Jio, disrupted the telecom industry with free voice and cut-price data in September 2016.

Jio, which started commercial operations in the second quarter with a loss of Rs 271 crore, has been blamed for falling profits of industry peers.

Reliance said pre-tax profit from petrochemical business, where all expansion projects have been completed, was at record high of Rs 5,753 crore in the third quarter of the current fiscal.

The owner of the world's largest refining complex earned $11.6 on turning every barrel of crude oil into fuel in October-December as against a gross refining margin (GRM) of $10.8 in the same period last year. The GRM was, however, lower than $12 recorded in the July-September quarter of the current fiscal.

Profit from the refining and marketing business was marginally down at Rs 6,165 crore as compared to Rs 6,194 crore in Q3 of last fiscal. In comparison to the previous quarter (July-September), the segment profit was down 7%.

While its oil and gas business logged a loss of Rs 291 crore, Reliance said its retail business was the fastest growing in the country, with revenue and pre-tax earnings more than doubling to Rs 18,798 crore and Rs 487 crore, respectively.

Retail business is however yet to make its first net profit.

RIL Chairman Mukesh Ambani said, "Our refining business has delivered 12 consecutive quarter of double-digit refining margins, demonstrating operating excellence and healthy industry fundamentals."