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Informist, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026

 

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--RIL: Operating 2,125 outlets under Jio-BP brand vs 1,865 yr ago
--RIL: Q3 Oil-to-chemicals EBITDA hit by weakness in downstream chem margins
--RIL: Q3 Oil-to-chemicals EBITDA up on rise in transportation fuel cracks
--RIL: Q3 ARPU growth offset by promotional offers for 5G, broadband svcs
--RIL: Oct-Dec ARPU rises on higher customer engagement
--RIL Oct-Dec CBM production 2.82 bln of cubic feet equivalent, up 6.4% YoY
--RIL Q3 KGD6 block production 61.8 bln of cubic feet equivalent, down 9.8% YoY
--RIL Oct-Dec CBM gas avg price realised $9.29/mBtu vs $10.58/mBtu year ago
--RIL Oct-Dec KGD6 gas avg price realised $9.65/mBtu vs $9.74/mBtu year ago
--RIL Oct-Dec oil and gas EBITDA margin 83.3%, down 410 bps on year
--RIL Oct-Dec oil and gas EBITDA INR 48.57 bln vs INR 55.65 bln year ago
--RIL Oct-Dec oil and gas revenue INR 58.33 bln vs INR 63.70 bln year ago
--RIL: Reliance Retail area operated 78.1 mln sq ft in Oct-Dec, up 0.9% YoY
--RIL: Reliance Retail store count 19,979 as on Dec 31 vs 19,102 year ago
--RIL Oct-Dec Reliance Retail EBITDA margin 8.0% vs 8.6% year ago
--RIL Oct-Dec Reliance Retail EBITDA INR 67.70 bln vs INR 66.32 bln year ago
--RIL Oct-Dec Reliance Retail revenue INR 869.51 bln vs INR 795.95 bln year ago
--RIL Oct-Dec oil-to-chemicals output for sale 18.2 mln tn, up 1.7% on year
--RIL Oct-Dec oil-to-chemicals ops throughput 20.6 mln tn, up 2% on year
--RIL Oct-Dec oil-to-chemicals EBITDA margin 10.2%, up 60 bps on year
--RIL Oct-Dec oil-to-chemicals EBITDA INR 165.07 bln vs INR 144.02 bln year ago
--RIL Oct-Dec oil-to-chemicals revenue INR 1.621 tln vs INR 1.496 tln year ago
--RIL: Jio Platforms Oct-Dec EBITDA margin 51.8% vs 50.1% qtr ago
--RIL: Jio Platforms Oct-Dec EBITDA INR 193.03 bln vs INR 165.85 bln qtr ago
--RIL: Jio Platforms Oct-Dec revenue INR 372.62 bln vs INR 330.74 bln qtr ago
--RIL: Jio Platforms Oct-Dec data traffic 62.3 bln GB vs 58.4 bln GB qtr ago
--RIL: Jio Platforms customer base 515.3 mln as on Dec 31 vs 506.40 mln qtr ago
--RIL net debt INR 1.171 tln as on Dec 31 vs INR 1.155 tln year ago
--RIL outstanding debt INR 3.469 tln as on Dec 31 vs INR 3.505 tln year ago
--RIL: Consol cash, cash equivalent as on Dec 31 at INR 2.298 tln
--RIL Oct-Dec capex INR 338.26 bln vs INR 322.59 bln year ago
--RIL Oct-Dec consol EBITDA margin 17.3% vs 18.0% year ago
--RIL Oct-Dec consol EBITDA INR 509.32 bln vs INR 480.03 bln year ago
--RIL: Jio Platforms Oct-Dec ARPU INR 213.7/month vs INR 211.4/month qtr ago
--RIL Apr-Dec consol revenue INR 7.771 tln vs 7.156 tln year ago
--RIL Apr-Dec consol net profit INR 638.04 bln vs INR 502.41 bln year ago
--Analysts saw RIL Oct-Dec consol revenue at INR 2.52 tln
--RIL Oct-Dec consol revenue INR 2.695 tln vs INR 2.439 tln
--RIL Oct-Dec consol net profit INR 186.45 bln vs INR 185.40
--Analysts saw RIL Oct-Dec consol net profit at INR 196.63 bln
--RIL Oct-Dec revenue INR 2.695 tln
--RIL Oct-Dec consol net profit INR 186.45 bln

By Sunil Raghu

 

AHMEDABAD – Reliance Industries Ltd.'s consolidated net profit for the December quarter appears to have kept its head just above the water, failing to meet street expectations and was almost flat over the last year. This, despite a double-digit rise in its revenue from operations that not just beat the street expectations but recorded highest year-on-year growth in three quarters. The oil-to-chemicals-to-telecommunications behemoth failed to beat analysts' expectations for its net profit growth, as its overall expenses jumped on higher cost of raw materials consumed, excise duty, finance costs, and employee benefit costs.

 

Reliance Industries' revenue for the December quarter came from the rise in earnings from expected quarters, oil-to-chemicals, telecommunications, and retail business. While all these business segments showed growth during the December quarter, their growth was mostly below street expectations.

 

The conglomerate's consolidated net profit rose just 0.6% on year to INR 186.45 billion, below analysts' expectations of INR 197 billion. Its consolidated revenue rose over 10% on year to INR 2.695 trillion, beating expectations of INR 2.52 trillion.

 

From the trailing quarter, the company reported a nearly 3% rise in its consolidated net profit. At the same time, revenue rose a little over 4% compared with the previous quarter.

 

The company's consolidated earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation came in at INR 509.32 billion, up 6% from INR 480.03 billion a year ago. Its EBITDA, excluding other income, was INR 460.18 billion, which was lower than the street expectations of around INR 481 billion. Its consolidated EBITDA margin for the same period fell to 17.3% from 18.0% in the December quarter a year ago.

 

The company's net profit came under pressure as its expenses in the December quarter rose 11.5% on year to INR 2.447 trillion from INR 2.194 trillion a year ago. The cost of raw material consumed was up nearly 10% on year at INR 1.083 trillion, excise duty was up over 18% at INR 45.91 billion. The employee costs, too, were up nearly 11% at INR 79.12 billion in the December quarter. The company's other expenses too were up 9% on year at INR 393.47 billion.

 

OIL-TO-CHEMICALS SEGMENT

The oil-to-chemicals business, which accounted for just over 60% of Reliance Industries' top line for the December quarter, saw its revenue grow over 8% on year to INR 1.621 trillion in Oct-Dec. The vertical's earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation, or EBITDA, rose nearly 15% on year to INR 165.07 billion from INR 144.02 billion a year ago. The analysts expected a growth of 13% year-on-year. For the September quarter, it was a little over INR 150 billion. The rise in segment EBITDA came from a rise in transportation fuel cracks and higher Sulphur realisation, it was partially offset by weakness in downstream chemical margins and higher feedstock freight rates.

 

The transportation fuel cracks saw a robust year-on-year rise in the December quarter, with Singapore gasoline 92 RON cracks improving to $13.4 per barrel, compared with $6.5 per barrel in Oct-Dec last year. This was due to lower Chinese exports and several fluidized catalytic cracking unit outages in the region restricting the supply. Singapore Gasoil 10-ppm cracks, too, improved to $24.5 per barrel from $15.1 per barrel in December quarter last year, primarily due to continued disruptions in Russian supply and unplanned outages in other regions. The sanctions on Russian refiners by US and European Union had seen further tightening of fuel markets globally.

 

For the December quarter, the aviation turbine fuel cracks too rose to $24.6 a barrel from $14.8 a barrel. As for polymers, their demand and margins saw a mixed trend. While polyethelene demand increased nearly 4% on year, with its margins rising 6% for the same period. The demand for polypropylene went up 8.4% on year but its margins declined 12% on year, while the margins for poly vinyl chloride fell 5.3% on year and its demand fell nearly 12% due to prolonged monsoon conditions that impacted pipe demand in agriculture and construction sector during the December quarter.

 

The segment's EBITDA margin during the quarter rose 60 basis points on year to 10.2%. Brent crude oil prices averaged $63.7 a barrel in the December quarter, down $11.1 a barrel from the same quarter in 2024. "Crude oil benchmarks declined YoY on expectations of a potential oil supply surplus in 2026 caused by higher OPEC+ (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) output and moderate demand growth," the company said.

 

The company's total crude oil throughput during the quarter was 20.6 million tonnes, up 2% compared with the previous year. The production meant for sale was 18.2 million tonnes, which was also higher by just 2% than the same quarter last year.

 

RETAIL SEGMENT

The retail segment of Reliance Industries is its second-largest business vertical. Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd. had contributed over 32% to the company's revenue for the December quarter. The revenue from operations of Reliance Retail Ventures increased over 9% on year to INR 869.51 billion in the December quarter.

 

Reliance Retail's earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation from operations increased a little over 2% on year to INR 67.7 billion, from INR 66.32 billion. This was in line with analysts' expectations and similar to EBITDA in the September quarter. The retail segment EBITDA margins for the company came in a tad lower at 8%, compared with 8.6% a year ago.

 

During the December quarter, Reliance Retail Ventures opened 158 new stores. At the end of the December quarter, the retail business had a total store count to 19,979 with area under operation at 78.1 million square feet, the company said. Last year on Dec. 31, the store count stood at 19,102 and area under operation was 77.4 million square feet. The number of transactions in the retail business jumped nearly 48% on year to 524 million. The company said that its registered customer base now stands at 378 million, making it one of the most preferred retailers in the country.

 

The parent company said in a press release that its "Fashion & Lifestyle consumption basket" maintained a "steady performance" supported by festival demand and seasonal assortment execution. It was, however, partially impacted by festival demand being spread across September and December quarters. Its grocery business delivered consistent performance led by uptick in festive demand, which saw 15-23% growth in key categories of packaged foods, staples, and dairy.

 

The company said that its digital stores saw strong performance, driven by year-end campaigns, and goods and services tax cut led resets for air-conditioners and televisions. It also said that JioMart Digital business recorded its highest ever quarterly sales within the mobile phone and television categories.

 

JIO PLATFORMS

Reliance Industries is the market leader in telecommunications through Jio Platform. This business accounted for nearly 14% of the company's consolidated revenue in the December quarter. The segment's revenue during the quarter rose nearly 13% on year to INR 372.62 billion, from 330.74 billion a year ago, while the same rose 2.6% compared with the September quarter revenue of INR 363.32 billion. Its EBITDA rose over 16% on year and over 3% on quarter to INR 193.03 billion and its EBITDA margin was at 51.8% compared with 50.1% a year ago. Analysts' expected this segment's EBITA to expand 14-17% on year and 3% from the trailing quarter.

 

The company's average revenue per user, or ARPU, for the quarter improved over 5% on year to INR 213.7 per month, which was INR 212 per month a quarter ago and INR 203.3 a month for the December quarter a year ago. The ARPU was a tad better than analysts' projections, who had hoped for the metric to come at INR 212.4. The company attributed this growth in ARPU to higher customer engagement but was offset by promotional offers for 5G and broadband services.

 

The subsidiary net added 8.9 million subscribers during the December quarter, taking the total subscriber base to 515.3 million. The total data traffic for the December quarter increased nearly 7% on year to 62.3 billion gigabytes from 58.4 billion gigabytes in September quarter. "5G now accounts for ~53% of

total wireless traffic driven by consistent increase in customer engagement," the company said.

 

OIL AND GAS

Revenue from the company's exploration business fell to INR 58.33 billion in the December quarter, down over 8% from the year-ago period due to lower production from its KG-D6 block. The KG-D6 refers to natural gas which is extracted from the Krishna-Godavari basin's D6 block. CBM is the natural gas extracted from coal seams in Sohagpur blocks in Madhya Pradesh.

 

The segment's EBITDA during the quarter fell nearly 13% on year and 3% on quarter to INR 48.57 billion. EBITDA margin for the segment, too, fell 410 basis points on year to 83.3%.

 

During the quarter, the average price realisation for KG-D6 fell to $9.65 per million British thermal units, from $9.74 per mBtu a year ago. For coal bed methane gas, the average realisation fell to $9.29 per mBtu from $10.58 per mBtu a year ago. Total production from the KG-D6 block fell over 5% on year to 61.8 billion of cubic feet equivalent, while the same from coal bed methane rose 6.4% on year to 2,82 billions of cubic feet equivalent. 

 

The company is also operating 2,125 retail outlets selling fuels as diesel and petrol under Jio-BP brand, up from 1,865 a year ago.

 

Considering all the businesses, Reliance Industries invested INR 338.26 billion in capital expenditure in the December quarter, nearly 5% higher than INR 322.59 billion of capex during the same period last year. Its outstanding debt at the end of the quarter was down over 1% on year at INR 3.469 trillion, from INR 3.505 trillion. As of Dec. 31, its net debt was INR 1.171 trillion, up from 1.155 trillion a year ago. Its cash and cash equivalents were INR 2.298 trillion. 

 

For the nine months ended September, the conglomerate's consolidated net profit increased 27% on year to INR 638.04 billion and revenue rose nearly 9% to INR 7.771 trillion. Reliance Industries announced its earnings after the market hours. On Friday, shares of the company closed almost flat at INR 1,457.90 on the National Stock Exchange.  End

 

US$1 = INR 90.87

 

Edited by Akul Nishant Akhoury

 

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