“We are extremely positive on prospects of R-Jio, which is backed by fastest speed, unmatched spectrum, strong content, wide-scale fibre network and easy availability of 4G-handsets”, Axis Capital said in a recent note.
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Explaining the rationale behind RIL’s performance, Agarwal said that slowing growth was the central theme in the last quarter, but a strong growth in oil demand and gasoline aided the earnings.
Reliance’s shares climbed about 14 per cent in 2015, ending a seven-year jinx of under-performing the S&P BSE Sensex. The curated fashion website will house a private label while 60 per cent of its products would be sourced from worldwide and national brands, RIL said. The PBDIT, however, went up by 24 percent to Rs 13,800 crore on account of higher volumes and margin expansion.
Pre-tax profit from refining business nearly doubled to Rs 6,491 crore in October-December, the same from petrochemical business soared 28 per cent to Rs 2,639 crore.
Riding on the back of the internet infrastructure that 4G telephony services unit Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd is creating, RIL wants to build a differentiated e-commerce model riding on its current businesses, company chairman Mukesh Ambani had said earlier. “The petrochemical business also delivered amongst its best quarterly performance, driven by robust polymer margins”, he added.
Other income was higher at Rs. 2,426 crore ($ 367 million) as against Rs. 2,340 crore in corresponding period of the previous year due to gains on sale of investments. They hit a low of Rs 1,015.20 and a high of Rs 1,049 during the session. The stand-alone numbers do not include the company’s U.S. shale oil and gas business and its domestic organised retail business.
Brent oil has fallen more than 70 per cent the last 18 months as the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries effectively abandoned output limits amid a surplus. Operating profit from the business grew by 10.5 percent in the same period to Rs 147 crore.
Reliance Industries’ cash and cash equivalents as on December 31 stood at 917.36 billion rupees.
“The benefits of low crude oil and energy prices for our downstream businesses clearly outweigh the impact of these factors on our upstream segment, reflecting in the record earnings for the quarter”, he said.
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At NSE, shares of the company slipped 4.44 per cent to Rs 997.25.
