Boosted by record earnings from petrochemical business and telecom unit Reliance Jio the Reliance Industries Ltd on Friday reported its highest quarterly net profit of INR 9,423 crore.
Consolidated net profit of Rs9,423 crore, or Rs16 per share, in the December quarter was 25.1% higher than Rs7,533 crore, or Rs12.80 a share, in the same quarter of 2016-17, RIL said in a statement.
Reliance Jio logged its first-ever profit.
Jio, with 160.1 million subscribers, turned positive “in only the second quarter of commercial operations”, logging a net profit of Rs 504 crore, RIL said. Reliance Jio has disrupted the telecom industry with free voice calls and cheap data since its launch in September 2016. The telecom start-up, which started commercial operations in Q2 FY18 with a loss of Rs271 crore, has been blamed for falling profits of industry peers.
Reliance said its retail business was the fastest growing in the country, with revenue and pre-tax earnings more than doubling to Rs18,798 crore and Rs 487 crore, respectively. Retail business is however yet to make its first net profit.
Though its retail business was the fastest growing in country, its oil and gas business logged a loss of Rs 291 crore.
According to Reliance Industries, pre-tax profit from petrochemical business, where all expansion projects have been completed, was at a record high of Rs 5,753 crore in the December quarter. It 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 2017-18. Profit from the refining and marketing business was marginally down at Rs 6,165 crore as compared to Rs 6,194 crore in Q3 FY17. In comparison to the previous quarter (July-September), the segment profit was down 7%.