The oil-to-telecoms conglomerate, led by billionaire Mukesh Ambani, said on Friday consolidated profit climbed to 132.27 billion rupees ($1.79 billion) in the fourth quarter, from 63.48 billion rupees a year earlier. Analysts on average had expected a profit of 134.91 billion rupees, according to Refinitiv data.
Overall, revenue edged up 11% to 1.55 trillion rupees.
Products like Snac tac noodles and Yeah! colas are Reliance’s private label brands - and billionaire Ambani’s not-so-secret weapons as he sets his sights on dominating a grocery market that’s already worth a cool $608 billion and set to grow more than 20% by 2024, according to Forrester Research.
Jio picked up a total of 488.35 megahertz (Mhz) in frequency bands of 800 Mhz, 1800 Mhz and 2300 Mhz, India's telecoms secretary Anshu Prakash told reporters.
The top three Indian wireless carriers - Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea - together bought airwaves worth 778.15 billion rupees ($10.60 billion) at the close of the two-day auction, Prakash said.
Amazon is locked in a battle for dominance with Walmart-backed Flipkart and Reliance as well as thousands of local traders who have accused the US firm of driving them out of business.
The 66-year-old Zhong is currently ranked the 8th richest man in the world, according to a real-time index from Forbes, ahead of former Google head Larry Page and India's Mukesh Ambani.
In October, Amazon had won an injunction to halt Future's deal with Reliance from a Singapore arbitrator both sides had agreed to use in case of disputes.