Mumbai: Reliance Industries Ltd reported a 13% drop in its profit for the January-March period as the US-Israel-Iran war weighed on the company’s key oil-to-chemicals (O2C) segment, even as contributions from telecom and retail segments remained resilient.
The company’s oil refining business was plagued by higher crude prices and expensive shipping and insurance costs due to the war. Higher fuel cracks — the margins the company makes from refining crude into fuel — helped offset some impact of the high input costs.
Incomes from Reliance’s telecom and retail businesses offset the dip in the key O2C business to deliver a flattish operating income at a consolidated level.
In a press release on Friday, Mukesh Ambani, the chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries, said the company faced geopolitical disruptions, volatile energy prices and shifting global trade patterns through fiscal year FY26.
“These headwinds weighed on businesses across the world,” Ambani said. “India held its economic growth course through all this, as did Reliance. The breadth of our portfolio and strong domestic orientation helped navigate volatility in the external environment.”
India’s most valuable company reported a consolidated profit of ₹16,971 crore in Q4, marginally above the consensus estimate of ₹16,944 crore of six analysts polled by Bloomberg. Consolidated revenue grew 13% year-on-year (y-o-y) to ₹2.99 trillion.
However, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda) declined marginally to ₹48,588 crore.
Revenue from the O2C segment grew 12% year-on-year on the back of higher fuel prices to ₹1.85 trillion. However, Ebitda for the segment fell by just under 4% to ₹14,520 crore.
“The numbers are weaker than expected and the main disappointment was the O2C segment,” said Harshraj Aggarwal, executive vice president-institutional equity research at Yes Securities. “Telecom and retail performance was more or less in line with expectations.”
The war in Iran was partly responsible for the O2C segment’s poor performance, Aggarwal said, adding that another possible reason could be unavailability of distressed crude oil. Lastly, Reliance diverted liquified petroleum gas (LPG) to priority sectors due to the war instead of its downstream chemicals business, further impacting margins, he said.
But there is a silver lining. Analysts at JP Morgan estimated that Reliance’s gross refining margins (GRM) — the money the company makes on refining every barrel of oil — has gone up to highs of $40-50 due to the war-related volatility compared to the long term average of $5-10, improving future earnings prospects.
Resilient telecom and retail
Incomes from Reliance’s telecom and retail businesses remained robust. Jio, the country’s largest telecommunications company, added 9.1 million customers during the quarter to reach 525.4 million subscribers. Reliance Retail added 181 stores to reach 20,160 stores.
Jio Platforms Ltd, the group’s telecommunications and digital arm, reported revenues of ₹38,259 crore in Q4, up 13% compared to last year. Ebitda expanded by a healthy 18% to ₹20,060 crore. Ebitda margins expanded 2.3 percentage points to 52.4%
Average revenue per user (ARPU) — a key metric in the telecom sector — was up by 4% to ₹214.
The company was “advancing steadily” towards the listing of Jio Platforms, the senior Ambani said.
“Jio's state-of-the-art connectivity and edge compute infrastructure make it the principal gateway through which AI services reach Indian consumers, households and businesses. This will sustain Jio's industry-leading growth for many years to come,” Akash Ambani, the chairperson of Reliance Jio Infocomm, said in a press release.
Meanwhile, Reliance Retail’s revenue grew 11% y-o-y to ₹87,344 crore, while Ebitda grew 3% to ₹6,921 crore. Net profit grew marginally to ₹3,563 crore.
“The most significant shift this year was structural. Hyper-local commerce orders grew more than four-fold year-on-year,” said Isha Ambani, Executive Director, Reliance Retail Ventures Limited. The company operates India's widest hyper-local delivery network across grocery, electronics and fashion with over 3,100 stores across over 1,200 cities, she said.
For the full year FY26, Reliance Industries reported a consolidated topline of ₹10.8 trillion, up by nearly a tenth. Ebitda for the year was 13.4% higher at ₹2.1 trillion, while consolidated profit grew by nearly 16% to ₹80,775 crore.
The company’s shares ended 1.15% lower on the BSE on Friday at ₹1,327.65. The benchmark Sensex closed the session 1.29% lower. The results were announced after market hours.
