Retail, Jio lift Reliance to record profit as oil cools

Reliance Industries reported consolidated revenue of ₹2.49 tn for the first quarter

- Nehal Chaliawala

Reliance Industries Ltd, India's most valuable company, beat estimates to post a sharp growth in revenue and profit for the April-June quarter, on the back of better earnings from telecommunications and retail even as weakness persisted in its crude-based businesses. A significant one-time gain from its divestment from Asian Paints also padded up the bottomline.

Commissioning of manufacturing plants in Reliance's new energy business-on which hinges its growth over the next decade-is progressing rapidly, as per an investor presentation.

Reliance did not disclose timelines for the new energy business, which will have an end-to-end renewable ecosystem, from making solar modules to generating clean electricity from these modules, and using electrons to run data centres and make hydrogen, ammonia, and aviation fuel.

During the first quarter, Reliance Industries stemmed the decline in operating profit at its key oil-to-chemicals (O2C) business through better margins despite a shrinking topline.

Coupled with a sharp uptick in earnings from its retail and telecom business, Reliance Industries reported consolidated revenue of ₹2.49 trillion for the first quarter, about 5% higher than in the corresponding year-ago quarter. The consensus revenue estimate of 18 analysts polled by Bloomberg was ₹2.43 trillion.