Reliance Industries posts Rs 9,423 crore Q3 net profit, Jio turns profitable for first time

Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) posted its highest-ever quarterly consolidated net profit of Rs 9,423 crore, recording 25.1 per cent growth. The company's total revenue stood at Rs 109,905 crore, which is up 30.5 per cent as compared to Rs 84,189 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year. RIL's net profit was at Rs 7,533 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year.

Reliance Industries telecom arm Jio posted a net profit of Rs 504 crore as opposed to Rs 271 crore loss in the previous quarter. Jio, the world's largest and fastest growing mobile data network, had a subscriber base of 160.1 million at the end of December, the company said.

Total wireless data traffic during the quarter stood at 431 crore GB while total voice traffic during the quarter was 31,113 crore minutes. Reliance Jio Infocomm had earlier signed a definitive agreement for the acquisition of specified assets of Reliance Communications (RCom). 

Increase in revenue is primarily on account of volume increase with start-up of petrochemicals projects and increase in prices in refining and petrochemical businesses. RIL's standalone net profit stood at Rs 8,454 crore. Mukesh Ambani-led energy giant's Gross Refining Margin came at $11.60 /bbl vs $12 per /bbl QoQ.

"Jio's strong financial result reflects the fundamental strength of the business, significant efficiencies and right strategic initiatives. Jio has demonstrated that it can sustain its strong financial performance," Mukesh Ambani on Jio making its first-ever profit.

Commenting on the highest-ever quarterly profits, RIL Chairman Mukesh Ambani said, "Fittingly, this quarter marks the culmination of our petrochemical expansion projects and the first positive net profit contribution from our newest business line - Digital Services. Our refining business has delivered 12 consecutive quarter of double-digit refining margins, demonstrating operating excellence and healthy industry fundamentals. Benefits of the large investments in petrochemical business are beginning to show with the segment reporting its highest ever earnings."

Reliance Industries commissioned the world's first ever and largest refinery off-gas cracker (ROGC) complex of 1.5 MMTPA capacity along with downstream plants and utilities at Jamnagar.

Exports (including deemed exports) from India were higher by 21.3 per cent at Rs 46,151 crore ($ 7.2 billion) as against Rs 38,038 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year due to higher export of petrochemical products and product prices in refining and petrochemical business.

Other expenditure increased by 38.4 per cent to Rs 14,169 crore ($ 2.2 billion) as against Rs 10,236 crore in corresponding period of the previous year primarily due to network expenses, access and regulatory charges pertaining to digital services business (Rs 3,411 crore) and higher power and fuel expenses primarily due to commissioning of new projects at Jamnagar (Rs 991 crore).

Reliance Retail reported a 81.98 per cent jump in its pre-tax profit at Rs 606 crore for the third quarter ended December 2017.

The Reliance Industries' retail arm had reported a PBDIT (profit before depreciation and income tax) of Rs 333 crore in the same period previous fiscal, the company said in a regulatory filing. Reliance Retail's revenue in the quarter under review jumped over two-fold at Rs 18,798 crore as against Rs 8,688 crore in the year-ago period.

The company said improvement in Kirana customer base, Kirana delivery process, value proposition and customer strategy has helped Reliance market deliver robust performance during the period.

During the quarter, Reliance Retail added 72 stores across various store concepts and strengthened its distribution network for consumer electronics. As on December 31, 2017, the company operated 3,751 stores across 750 cities with an area of over 14.5 million square feet.