Reliance Industries Ltd saw its consolidated net profit in the March quarter rise 19 percent year-on-year to ₹19,299 crore, while its revenue rose 2.1 percent to ₹2.2-lakh-crore, led by a rise in retail and digital service revenue.
In the reporting quarter, its downstream oils-to-chemicals (O2C) business saw an 11.8 percent dip in revenue to ₹1.3 lakh crore. The company usually gets over 60 percent of its revenue from the O2C segment, while this time its share has fallen below 60 percent, an indicator of the rising share of the other segments.
The company attributed the decrease in the share of O2C business to a sharp fall in crude oil prices and lower price realisation on downstream products during the quarter.
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Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation was ₹38,440 crore, up from ₹31,366 crore year ago, while EBITDA margin expanded 297 basis points to 17.77 percent.
The rise in EBITDA and the expansion in margin was explained by a favourable mix, sourcing benefits in the retail segment, higher revenue in the digital services segment and better gas price realisation and higher volumes in the oil and gas segment. The EBITDA in the O2C business rose 14.4 percent to ₹16,293 crore.
For the year, the company reported a 9.8 percent rise in net profit to ₹66,702 crore, while revenue grew to ₹8.9-lakh-crore, with all business segments contributing to the growth. EBITDA for the year rose to Rs ₹1.4-lakh-crore from ₹1.1-lakh-crore year ago and the EBITDA margin expanded 70 basis points to 16 percent.
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Under Jio Platforms, the company has expanded its fifth-generation wireless services to over 2,300 cities and towns, while Reliance Retail added 3,300 stores in the year ending the year with a total retail space of 65.6 million square feet.
The company spent about $5.4 billion in Q4 FY23 and $17.3 billion in the full year, while it ended the year with a net debt of $13.4 billion.