Firm Clocks 12% Rise With Strong Momentum At Retail, Jio

New Delhi: Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Limited’s fiscal third quarter (October-December) figures revealed a better-than-expected 12 per cent rise in December quarter net profit on improving oil-to-chemical business, strong continued momentum in retail and steady telecom unit Jio. The oil-to-telecome company had posted a net profit of Rs 10,602 cr in the last July-September quarter. ALSO READ | Education Sector Budget 2021 Expectations: NEP, Loan Rebates & More – What The Education Sector Expects From FM Sitharaman

As per RIL official statement, company’s consolidated net profit in October-December stood at Rs 13,101 crore, compared to Rs 11,640 crore net earning in the same period last year. 

The reports also stated that RIL showed improvement on quarter-to-quarter basis. It was lower than year-ago earnings, but this was more than made good by a spurt in consumer-facing businesses of telecom and retail which now contribute to 51 per cent of earnings as compared to 37 per cent a year back.

About 56 per cent of the pre-tax profit (EBITDA) of Rs 8,483 comes from Jio and Reliance Retail.

Net income hike was further increased on the backdrop of a 20 per cent year-on-year decline in finance expenses due to cash inflow in the digital unit, Jio Platforms and Reliance Retail from Google/financial investors respectively. Revenue was down 18.6 per cent at Rs 137,829 crore, the company said.

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Jio, the telecom arm, posted a 15.5 per cent quarter-on-quarter rise in net profit to Rs 3,489 crore as it added over 25 million subscribers and per user income rose to Rs 151 per month. It had 410.8 million subscribers at the end of December.

Apart from this, even a sharp recovery in fashion and lifestyle businesses helping retail get back to pre-COVID level saw the segment’s cash profit rise 76.3 per cent to Rs 2,482 crore.

“We have delivered strong operational results during the quarter with a robust revival in O2C and retail segments, and a steady growth in our digital services business, Mukesh Ambani, chairman and managing director, Reliance Industries Limited, said. 

“In line with this vision, our O2C business has formally reorganised its reporting segments to reflect our new strategy and management matrix for this enterprise. The reorganised structure will facilitate holistic and agile decision making and enable us to pursue attractive new opportunities for growth, with strategic partnerships with the best and the biggest in this business globally,” he added.