RIL Q3 net rises 7.4% on rebound in retail, higher telecom earnings

New Delhi: Reliance Industries Ltd on Thursday reported a 7.4 per cent rise in its December quarter net profit as retail business rebounded, telecom earnings surged on higher tariffs and mainstay oil and petrochemicals business delivered consistent performance.

Its consolidated net profit of Rs 18,540 crore, or Rs 13.70 per share, in October-December - the third quarter of FY25 - compared to Rs 17,265 crore, or Rs 12.76 a share, in the same period a year back, according to a company statement.

Profit was also up sequentially from Rs 16,563 crore in the July-September quarter.

The profit before tax (EBITDA) rose 7.8 per cent to Rs 48,003 crore. This was despite an almost 7 per cent rise in finance cost due to higher debt (Rs 3.5 lakh crore as of December 31, 2024, compared to Rs 3.36 lakh crore in September and Rs 3.11 lakh crore in December 2023). Its revenue was up 7.7 per cent year-on-year to Rs 2.67 lakh crore.

Higher tariffs and more customers helped telecom arm profits jump, while more stores and higher footfalls helped retail businesses rebound. Good domestic demand and rising petchem margins helped oil-to-chemicals businesses post decent numbers.

While Jio Infocomm’s standalone profit jumped 24 per cent to Rs 6,477 crore in Q3, Jio Platforms - the unit that houses all digital business - reported a 26 per cent rise to Rs 6,861 crore.

All four key parameters - data minute usage, data consumed, average per-user earnings and number of subscribers - grew. The customer base rose to 482.1 million from 478.8 million in July-September 2024 and 470.9 million in October-December 2023, average revenue per user crossed the Rs 200 per month mark. ARPU in Q3 was Rs 203.3 against Rs 195.1 in the previous quarter and Rs 181.7 a year back.

The residual impact of the tariff hike implemented in mid-2024 will flow through over the next few months, the firm said.

Retail arm Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd posted a 10 per cent year-on-year rise in profit to Rs 3,458 crore as it opened 779 new stores to take the number to 19,102 and footfalls rose to 296 million on festive buying from 282 million a year back.

Oil-to-chemical business, which houses the company’s twin refineries at Jamnagar in Gujarat and petrochemical plants, saw EBITDA rise 2.4 per cent to Rs 14,402 crore. The refineries processed more crude and petchem margins improved.

In the fuel retail business, Jio-bp - its joint venture with BP of the UK - posted “highest ever quarterly sales across both petrol and diesel”, the statement said.

Lower gas production from the KG-D6 block and a fall in the price of coal seam gas led to a 4.1 per cent fall in pre-tax profit of its oil and gas business to Rs 5,565 crore in Q3.

“The average KGD6 production for the 3Q is 28.04 million standard cubic metres per day of gas and 21,000 barrels a day of oil,” it said, adding that the current rate of production is around 27.9 mmscmd of gas and 20,700 bpd of oil.