Reliance Industries profit jumps 40% to ₹25,548 crore on refining windfall

Reliance Industries posted a July-September profit of ₹25,548 crore, up 40% from a year earlier and comfortably ahead of what analysts had penciled in. Nine analysts polled by Bloomberg had expected about ₹21,368 crore, so the beat was close to a fifth. Consolidated revenue climbed more than a quarter to ₹3.3 trillion, also above the ₹3.1 trillion forecast.

The engine behind the numbers was refining. Fuel cracks, the gap between what crude costs and what diesel, petrol and jet fuel fetch, widened to multi-year highs during the quarter. The wars in West Asia and Ukraine knocked out a meaningful slice of global refining capacity, leaving markets short of key products and rewarding any refiner that could keep running and ship barrels abroad.

Reliance was well placed for that environment. Roughly half of its refining capacity sits inside a special economic zone at Jamnagar, which kept it outside the windfall tax New Delhi levied on domestic refiners. Its export-oriented model meant it could sell into the tightest international markets. The oil-to-chemicals segment, which houses the refineries, saw EBITDA rise 68% year on year to ₹25,203 crore, and management credited better margin capture and smarter feedstock buying and product placement.

The rest of the portfolio told a more mixed story. Digital services EBITDA grew about 18%, a steady contributor as the telecom and consumer internet arms keep expanding. Retail EBITDA, however, dropped by roughly a tenth as high inflation squeezed household spending, and the oil and gas exploration business slipped marginally. Group EBITDA rose nearly a quarter to ₹56,616 crore, ahead of the ₹51,942 crore consensus, yet the EBITDA margin contracted 71 basis points to 17%, a reminder that top-line strength came with thinner profitability in several units.

Market watchers see room for the momentum to continue. Harshraj Aggarwal of Yes Securities, who ran his own estimates, put the implied gross refining margin near $20 a barrel, roughly 30% above the prior quarter. Reliance does not disclose that figure directly, so such numbers come from analyst modeling. He also flagged potential upside next quarter from access to cheaper Venezuelan crude, which the company's Gujarat refinery is well suited to process.

For investors tracking India's largest listed company by market value, the result underlines how much its fortunes still ride on global refining cycles, even as its digital and retail arms are pitched as long-term growth stories. The next few quarters will show whether the refining tailwind holds or fades as supply gaps close. For the full earnings release and the original reporting, see the Mint report on Reliance's quarterly results.

Related: Private equity in India's hospitals flowed mainly to west and south, study finds · Monolithic Power beats Q3 estimates, yet shares slip after hours