India’s Reliance rakes in $100bn annual revenue

MUMBAI: Reliance Industries became the first Indian company to cross $100 billion in annual revenues after the oil-to-telecoms giant reported strong quarterly results across its energy, telecoms and retail businesses Friday.

The conglomerate, which is owned by Asia’s richest man Mukesh Ambani, reported a net profit of 162.03 billion rupees ($2.1 billion) between January and March, 22.5 percent higher than the same period last year.

Revenues from operations increased 36.8 percent year-on-year to 2.12 trillion rupees, aided by both its legacy energy business and newer ventures such as retail.

Income in the quarter helped gross revenue cross 7.93 trillion rupees ($104.6 billion) for the financial year ended March 31.

“Despite the ongoing challenges of the pandemic and heightened geopolitical uncertainties, Reliance has delivered a robust performance,” chairman and managing director Ambani said in a statement.

“Our O2C (oil-to-chemical) business has proven its resilience and has demonstrated strong recovery despite volatility in the energy markets,” the billionaire added.

Revenues from Reliance’s oil refinery and petrochemicals business — which accounts for more than half of total income — benefited from higher crude oil prices, rising 44.2 percent year-on-year to 1.46 trillion rupees.

The energy giant’s smaller oil and gas exploration and production business saw revenues jump 136.8 percent year-on-year to 20 billion rupees, helped by higher gas prices.

But India intervening to keep domestic fuel prices low even as global oil prices skyrocketed in the quarter hurt Reliance’s nascent petrol pump partnership with British oil and gas major BP, the company said.

Net profit from telecoms arm Reliance Jio rose 22.9 percent to 43.13 billion rupees, boosted by tariff hikes undertaken in December 2021, even as its customer base shrunk by 10.9 million subscribers in the quarter.

Revenues from Reliance’s retail business hit a fresh all-time high of 580.17 billion rupees, helped by an early summer and strong demand for clothing and groceries.

Reliance’s multi-billion-dollar fortune has been powered by oil and petrochemicals businesses, but the company has diversified into new areas including telecoms and retail in recent years.

The company’s shares closed 0.74 percent lower in Mumbai ahead of the earnings announcement on Friday.