MUMBAI: Billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Ltd reported nearly flat revenues and lower profits for Q2 of FY 2025 ended 30 September 2024 as compared to Q2 of FY 2024 ended 30 September 2023.

Revenue from operations at the oil to telecom conglomerate was at Rs 235,481 crore (Rs 234,956 crore); other income (Rs 4,876 crore vs Rs 3,841 crore) took up total income to Rs 240,357 crore (Rs 238,797 crore). Higher expenses of Rs 215,320 crore (Rs 212,304 crore) took a toll on the bottom line with PBT falling to Rs 25,037 crore (Rs 26,493 crore). Lower taxes (both direct and differed) of Rs 5,396 crore (Rs 6,673 crore) helped rescue the fall in PAT marginally which dropped to Rs 19,101 crore (Rs 19,820 crore). Net profit attributable to the owners of the company fell 4.88 per cent to Rs 16,563 crore (Rs 17,394 crore).

The oil to chemicals business reported higher revenues of Rs 155,580 crore (Rs 147,988 crore) with EBITDA dipping to Rs 12,143 crore (Rs 16,277 crore). A press release stated that the oil to chemicals revenue improved with higher volumes and increased domestic placement of products. EBITDA was lower by 23.7 per cent on account of sharp decline in product margins. Fuel cracks declined by nearly 50 per cent Y-o-Y. Downstream chemical also declined with muted global demand. In a well-supplied market, RIL benefited due to superior ethane cracking economics driven by sharp fall in ethane prices.

The oil and gas business had a lower top line with revenues at Rs 6,222 crore (Rs 6,6620 crore). EBITDA for this segment however showed buoyancy rising to Rs 5,290 crore (Rs 4,766 crore). The press release stated that lower gas price realizations led to six per cent  lower revenue in the oil and gas segment. Oil and gas segment EBITDA increased by 11.0 per cent on account of sustained volume growth and one time provisioning towards decommissioning cost for Tapti field in Q2 FY 24.

Reliance’s retail business received a slight knock with revenues dropping to Rs 76,325 crore (Rs 77,163 crore). The press release said EBITDA for this segment improved fractionally to Rs 5,861 crore (Rs 5,841 crore) with a continued focus on streamlining of operations and calibrated approach in B2B.

Digital services which includes its Jio Platforms business was the shining star with revenues climbing to Rs 38,055 crore (Rs 32,657 crore) and EBITDA at Rs 16,139 crore (Rs 14,055 crore). The 17.8 per cent Y-o-Y EBITDA increase was due to better subscriber mix, digital services scale-up and revision in telecom tariffs, stated the RIL press release.  

“I am happy to note that during this quarter Reliance once again demonstrated the resilience of its diversified business portfolio. Our performance reflects robust growth in digital services and upstream business,” said RIL chairman & managing director Mukesh Ambani. ”This helped partially offset weak contribution from O2C business which was impacted by unfavorable global demand-supply dynamics.  

“Growth in digital services was led by increased ARPU and improving customer engagement metrics reflecting the strong value proposition of our services. The home broadband segment is witnessing accelerated momentum on the back of our unique industry-leading JioAirFiber offering. Jio’s broad spectrum of offerings enables it to digitally empower every village, town and city in India as well as the country’s small and medium scale enterprises. The digital services business continues to focus on innovative deep-tech solutions on a national scale and is on track to deliver the path-breaking benefits of Artificial Intelligence to all Indians. 

“The retail segment continues to increase its consumer touchpoints and product offerings across physical and digital channels. The unique omni-channel retail model enables the business to service a wide range of requirements of a vast, heterogenous customer base. The retail business continues to partner with renowned domestic as well as global players, expanding its basket of quality product offerings. The focus on strengthening our retail operations will help us rapidly scale-up this business in the coming quarters and years and sustain our industry-leading growth momentum.  

“The first of our new energy giga-factories is on-track to commence production of solar PV modules by the end of this year. With a comprehensive range of renewable solutions including solar, energy storage systems, green hydrogen, bio-energy and wind, the new energy business is poised to become a significant contributor to global clean energy transition.”