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Despite one of the toughest quarters for global energy markets, Reliance Industries delivered a stronger-than-expected performance, powered by Jio, Retail and a rebound in its oil business.
A first for Reliance: the conglomerate reported a quarterly revenue of over ₹3 lakh crore for the first time.
By the numbers:
- Revenue: ₹3.09 lakh crore, up 26.6% (YoY)
- Consolidated net profit: at ₹20,946 cr vs 16,971 Cr (QoQ) and ₹26,994 crore (YoY)
- EBITDA margin: at 15.4% vs 17.6% (YoY)
While last year's profit included a one-time gain from the sale of its Asian Paints stake, Reliance still reported its highest-ever recurring quarterly net profit and record operating profit, showing that its core businesses are firing on all cylinders.
Jio Platforms remained Reliance's biggest growth engine.
Revenue from its digital business jumped 20% YoY, helped not just by mobile services but also by faster growth in cloud computing, enterprise services, IoT and digital content.
Across mobile, broadband and enterprise businesses, Jio delivered 15% growth in earnings driven by subscriber additions and margin expansion. The company also moved a step closer to its much-awaited IPO by filing its Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) with SEBI during the quarter.
Reliance Retail also had a strong quarter. Revenue rose 7.4% to ₹90,408 crore. Excluding the demerger of Reliance Consumer Products, growth stood at an even stronger 11.6%.
The company continued its aggressive expansion by adding 252 new stores, taking its total network to 20,169 outlets. Customer traffic remained robust too.
Transactions surged 46% year-on-year to 568 million, while the number of registered customers climbed to 396 million.
Reliance's Oil-to-Chemicals (O2C) business, often seen as the company's traditional cash cow, also bounced back.
EBITDA jumped 17.2% to a four-year high of ₹17,010 crore, helped by stronger refining margins and better demand for fuels like petrol, diesel and aviation turbine fuel.
The gains were partly offset by the windfall tax on fuels, lower domestic fuel marketing margins and planned maintenance shutdowns, but the business still delivered a solid performance.
Meanwhile, the oil and gas business remained steady. EBITDA came in at ₹4,973 crore, supported by higher production from the KG-D6 basin and increased coal-bed methane output.
JioHotstar had its biggest-ever quarter for engagement.
The platform averaged 530 million monthly active users, while IPL 2026 became the largest-ever T20 tournament across both digital and television platforms.
The business reported EBITDA of ₹1,049 crore, up 3.1% from a year ago.
Stock action: Reliance shares rallied nearly 3% on Friday ahead of the earnings announcement, adding ₹45,334 crore to the company's market capitalisation.
