India’s Reliance reports 17.3% rise in profits

Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries on Wednesday reported a 17.3 percent rise in consolidated net profit boosted by strong revenues from its telecom venture Jio and margins from its core business of oil refining.

The Mumbai-based firm owned by India’s wealthiest man, Mukesh Ambani, said consolidated net profit for the three months through September rose to 95.16 billion rupees ($1.29 billion).

Reliance has business interests in refining, retail, telecommunications and petrochemicals.

“Our integrated refining and petrochemicals business generated strong cash flows in a period of heightened volatility in commodity and currency markets,” Reliance chief Mukesh Ambani said in a statement.

Revenues for the period were up 53 percent to 1.46 trillion rupees.

Meanwhile, RIL’s telecom venture Jio reported a fourth straight quarter of profit due to an increase in subscribers and the introduction of its newest low-cost smartphone JioPhone 2, the company said.

Jio, which earned revenues of 6.81 billion rupees, had reported losses for the same quarter last year.

Ambani had launched Reliance Jio with much fanfare in September 2016 offering free services up to March 2017, sparking intense fare wars and creating consolidation in the Indian telecom sector.

Reliance said in a statement that its gross refining margin, the profit earned from each barrel of crude, was down to $9.5 in the September quarter from $10.5 in the previous quarter.

Refining margins are a key profitability gauge for Reliance, one of the world’s largest refiners.

Shares of Reliance fell over one percent on Wednesday ahead of the earnings announcement, which came after the local stock market closed.