Reliance Industries Q2 FY25: Profit down 4.78%; total income up 0.65%

The Mukesh Ambani-helmed Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) declared a 4.78 per cent drop year-on-year in consolidated net profit, during quarter two of the fiscal year 2024-’25, or Q2 FY25. The total income of the multinational conglomerate, however, saw a year-on-year (YoY) growth of 0.65 per cent. RIL’s gross revenue remains unchanged, at Rs 2,58,027 crore YoY.

In the second quarter of FY25, or the July-September period of this year, RIL’s net profit was Rs 16,563 crore compared to Rs 17,394 crore in the same period last fiscal year.

The total income of RIL, on the other hand, increased to Rs 2,40,357 crore in Q2 FY25 from Rs 2,38,797 crore in the same quarter last year.

Among other metrics, RIL saw a marginal fall of 2 per cent in overall EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation) on a YoY basis, to Rs 43,934 crore.

The capital expenditure (capex) for the quarter in focus was Rs 34,022 crore.

“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. This helped partially offset weak contribution from O2C (oil-to-chemicals) business which was impacted by unfavorable global demand-supply dynamics,” Ambani said in a statement with report, available on the RIL website.

DIGITAL SERVICES

RIL’s success story in the quarter has mainly been driven by its digital services. Stressing on the success of RIL digital, Ambani said: “Growth in digital services was led by increased ARPU (Average Revenue Per User) 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.” 

Ambani’s statement also mentioned how Jio’s broad spectrum of offerings had enabled the brand to “digitally empower every village, town and city in India”.

Jio’s total subscription base rose 4.2 per cent YoY to 47.9 crore. ARPU was up 7.4 per cent YoY, to Rs 195.10.

The report said Jio had consolidated its position in the 5G segment, with 14.8 crore subscribers transitioning to the technology. In turn, per capita data consumption increased to 31 GB per month.

EBITDA for Jio Platforms Limited on a YoY basis rose 17.8 per cent driven by improved services, revised telecom tariff and better subscriber mix. Overall, Jio Platforms Limited reported a 23.4 per cent growth in Q2 FY25 profit.

RETAIL VENTURES

Ambani also mentioned how RIL retail continued “to increase its consumer touchpoints and product offerings across physical and digital channels”. EBITDA margin for Reliance Retail Ventures Limited improved by 30 basis points (BPs) with focus remaining firm on streamlined operations and a regulated B2B strategy.

Overall Profit After Tax (PAT) for Reliance Retail Ventures, however, marginally dropped by 1.3 per cent.

OIL-TO-CHEMICALS

RIL’s O2C segment registered bigger volumes during Q2 FY25 and a drop in gas prices, which created 6 per cent lesser revenue.

EBITDA for O2C was lower by 23.7 per cent largely owing to fall in product margins. Fuel cracks recorded a 50-per cent drop YoY and downstream chemical fell, given diminishing global demand.

OIL AND GAS

EBITDA for RIL’s oil and gas arm saw an increase of 11 per cent driven by sustained growth and one-time provisioning towards decommissioning cost for Tapti field in Q2 FY24, the report said.

While depreciation increased by 2.3 per cent, finance cost was up 5 per cent on a YoY basis.