Consolidated net profit rose to 72.90 billion rupees ($1.08 billion) for the three months to Dec. 31 from 52.56 billion rupees a year earlier, Reliance, controlled by India's richest man Mukesh Ambani, said in a statement on Tuesday.
Analysts on average had expected a profit of 70.33 billion rupees, according to Thomson Reuters data.
Reliance said its gross refining margin, or profit earned on each barrel of crude processed - a key profitability gauge for a refiner - was $11.5 per barrel for the quarter, its highest in seven years.