India’s Reliance Industries reports best ever quarterly sales in Q3

Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries on Friday reported its highest ever quarterly revenue, saying net profit rose 41 percent in the third quarter, helped by strong performances from its core oil-to-chemicals arm and digital services division.

Reliance’s July-September numbers come days after the impressive debut of Jio Platforms, the conglomerate’s digital services arm, which raised more than $3 billion in the country’s biggest initial public offering earlier this week.

The retail-to-refining giant led by billionaire tycoon Mukesh Ambani is India’s most valuable company by market capitalisation.

The conglomerate reported revenue of 3.62 trillion rupees ($38 billion), up 27.8 percent year-on-year and its highest ever quarterly sales figure, according to a company statement.

Reliance has aggressively expanded into telecom and green energy businesses over the last decade, but it still relies on its traditional oil business for profits.

The conglomerate owns and operates the world’s largest refinery complex in the eastern Indian state of Gujarat.

The sector has faced multiple challenges, with the ongoing Mideast conflict affecting supplies, but Reliance has managed to diversify crude imports.

Reliance “delivered a strong performance despite a complex operating environment”, Ambani said in the statement.

“Our ability to optimise feedstock sourcing and product placement along with operations across the value chain enabled us to improve margin capture,” Ambani added.

Jio’s strong listing has also pushed the growth.

Launched a decade ago, Jio’s wireless service disrupted the market with steep discounts that helped it rapidly win customers from rival telecom firms Bharti Airtel and Vodafone.

With more than 530 million subscribers, the firm currently makes most of its money from telecoms, but has expanded in recent years into newer areas including digital services and artificial intelligence.

Analysts see Jio as the key to Reliance’s strategy to evolve beyond its traditional business and a touchstone of its future tech ambitions.

Ambani said Reliance has set “multiple global benchmarks.”

“It demonstrates the depth of confidence investors place in Jio’s solid foundation and strong growth visibility,” he added.