Reliance Industries Ltd reported a resilient performance in the fiscal third quarter, with consolidated revenue rising 10 percent from a year earlier to Rs 2.94 lakh crore, led by growth in its digital services, oil-to-chemicals (O2C) and retail businesses.
Net profit (pre minority) for the fiscal third quarter rose 1.6 percent from a year earlier to Rs 22,290 crore, while profit before tax increased 3.7 percent to Rs 29,697 crore.
Consolidated EBITDA rose 6.1 percent to Rs 50,932 crore, supported by earnings growth in the digital services and O2C segments, helping offset weakness in the upstream oil and gas business.
"Reliance's consolidated performance in 3Q FY26 reflects consistent financial delivery and operational resilience across businesses," said Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director, Reliance Industries Ltd, in a statement on Friday.
The O2C business benefited from a sharp increase in transportation fuel cracks, which rose 62-106 percent from a year earlier during the third quarter. This improvement was partly offset by lower downstream chemical margins and higher feedstock freight rates. Overall, O2C EBITDA rose 15 percent from a year earlier to Rs 16,507 crore, helped by higher volumes and a continued ramp-up in fuel retail operations.
The Jio-bp fuel retailing business maintained its growth momentum, with fuel volumes rising 24 percent, supported by strong growth in gasoline and high-speed diesel sales. The retail network expanded further, with Jio-bp operating 2,125 outlets at the end of December, a 14 percent increase from a year earlier.
"Robust growth in O2C business was led by significantly higher fuel margins with favorable demand-supply dynamics, along with operational flexibility. I am happy to highlight the strong growth in our fuel retailing business, with continuing expansion of the Jio-bp network," Ambani added.
The digital services business delivered strong growth, with revenue rising 12.7 percent to Rs 43,683 crore. EBITDA from the segment grew 16.4 percent YoY to Rs 19,303 crore, aided by accelerated subscriber additions and a 170-basis-point expansion in margins.
Reliance Jio’s subscriber base increased to 515.3 million, with its 5G user base crossing 250 million during the quarter. Total home connects crossed 25 million, while JioAirFiber became the first fixed wireless access service globally to surpass 10 million subscribers, ending the quarter with 11.5 million users. Average revenue per user (ARPU) rose 5.1 percent from a year earlier to Rs 213.7.
"This quarter, Jio expanded its subscriber base further, through attractive propositions enabled by its comprehensive, indigenous technology stack tailored for Indian markets. The business delivered a robust financial performance with 16.4% growth in EBITDA," said Ambani.
In contrast, the oil and gas business weighed on overall performance, affected by lower production from the KGD6 block due to natural decline in the reservoir and weaker price realisations, along with higher operating costs related to periodic maintenance activity. EBITDA declined 13 percent from a year earlier to Rs 4,857 crore. Revenue from the segment fell 8.4 percent to Rs 5,833 crore.
The retail business posted revenue of Rs 97,605 crore, an increase of 8.1 percent from a year earlier. Growth, however, was impacted by the distribution of festive demand between the September and December quarters, the demerger of Reliance Consumer Products Ltd, and GST rate rationalisation. Despite these, retail EBITDA rose to Rs 6,915 crore. During the quarter, Reliance Retail operated 19,979 stores, with a total operational area of 78.1 million sq ft, while hyper-local delivery operations saw a near fivefold jump in average daily orders.
"Our Retail business also had an eventful quarter, strengthening its portfolio with the onboarding of fresh new brands and product ranges. The demerger of consumer products business came into effect this quarter. With a broad and diverse product basket ranging from classic Indian brands to new age labels, the consumer products vertical is progressing on its accelerated growth trajectory with a focused organizational structure," said Ambani.
JioStar continued to report strong operational performance, maintaining leadership across key platforms and genres. JioStar reported revenue of Rs 8,010 crore with EBITDA (including other income) of Rs 1,303 crore. Television network reached over 830 million viewers, delivering over 60 billion hours of watch time. JioHotstar averaged 450 million Monthly Active Users (MAUs); up 13% Q-o-Q and almost on par with the IPL quarter (1Q FY26),
During the quarter, capital expenditure stood at Rs 33,826 crore, which was fully covered by cash profits of Rs 41,303 crore. Net debt declined sequentially to Rs 1.17 lakh crore as of December 31, reflecting balance sheet stability.
Reliance Industries reported robust performance across its four key verticals - Oil-to-chemicals, Jio Platforms, Retail and Oil & Gas.
Oil-to-chemicals
Revenue for the company’s oil-to-chemicals (O2C) business for the quarter jumped by 8.4 percent to Rs 1.62 lakh crore, from Rs 1.49 lakh crore in the year ago period.
Ebitda for the December quarter stood at Rs 16,507 crore, compared to an Ebitda of Rs 14,402 crore in the same period last year.
Production meant for sale increased by 1.7 percent on a year-on-year basis. Fuel retailing operations through Jio-bp expanded its network by 14 percent YoY to 2,125 outlets.
The O2C business includes refining, petrochemicals, fuel retailing through Reliance BP Mobility Ltd, aviation fuel sales and bulk wholesale marketing. The company does not report its gross refining margins (GRMs) separately but has traditionally outperformed the benchmark Singapore GRMs.
Srinivasan T, Chief Operating Officer, O2C (Refining) said that the O2C segment’s earnings were constrained by higher feedstock freight rates, weak downstream deltas. “We have also had a rise in freight rates. The number of VLCCs (very large crude carriers) available for trade came down due to sanctions,” he added.
“We continue to focus on the domestic market…trying to outperform by innovative products,” said Srinivasan. He added that domestic fuel sales have seen healthy growth.
Oil & Gas business
The oil and gas business reported a quarterly EBITDA of Rs 4,857 crore in the December quarter. The oil and gas segment’s revenue came in at Rs 5,833 crore.
3Q FY26 revenue is lower by 8.4 percent YoY, on account of lower volumes and price realisation for KGD6 gas and condensate, the company said. .
The average price realized for KGD6 gas was $ 9.65/MMBTU (million british thermal units) in 3Q FY26 vis-à-vis $ 9.74/MMBTU in 3Q FY25. The average price realised for CBM (coal bed methane) gas was $ 9.29/MMBTU in 3Q FY26 vis-à-vis $ 10.58/MMBTU in 3Q FY25.
Sanjay Roy, President – E&P, commented that the segment’s EBITDA margin was impacted by decline in prices and production.
On the demand front, Roy commented that Indian gas market demand looks robust, largely driven by the CGD (city gas distribution) sector. “We remain a substantial contributor to India’s domestic production,” added Roy. “We are seeing more and more LNG exports from North America and that trend will continue,” he said.
Jio Platforms
Jio Platforms registered a profit of Rs 7,629 crore in the third quarter, an increase of 11.2 percent.
The telecom and streaming business segment’s revenue rose 12.7 percent to Rs 43,683 crore in the December quarter, compared to revenue of Rs 38,750 crore in the year ago period.
The company said that its operating revenue (net of GST) growth was driven by robust subscriber addition, ARPU growth and scale-up of digital services.
The average revenue per user (ARPU), an important metric to measure the performance of telecom companies, improved by 5.1 percent to Rs 213.7 per user per month from a year ago.
Jio’s subscriber base stood at 515.3 million as of December 31, up 6.9 percent year-on-year.
Akash M Ambani, Chairman of reliance Jio Infocomm, said, “Jio’s over 500 million subscriber base, deep customer insights and pan India distribution network will empower Reliance Intelligence to achieve its aim to make India not just AI-enabled but AI-empowered - where every citizen and enterprise can harness AI tools to create, innovate and grow. This will drive sustained value creation for all stakeholders in the coming years.
Anshuman Thakur, Senior Vice President, Jio Platforms said that the company continues to have a very healthy growth rate on subscriber additions.
“5G expansion across the country is helping us win more customers. We have 65% of 5G subscribers in India,” he said.
“Every quarter we are getting around 20 to 25 million consumers who are converting to 5G or coming into our networks to avail our 5G services. More than 50% of our traffic on the network has now moved to 5G and that has eased a lot of pressure on our 4G network. It has created more capacity for more customers, improved the customer experience” Thakur added.
Retail
RIL’s retail arm, Reliance Retail’s gross revenue increased by 8.1 percent to Rs 96,605 crore in the quarter from a gross revenue of Rs 90,333 crore in the previous year.
Net profit stood at Rs 3,551 crore for the December quarter.
The business expanded its store network with 431 new store openings, taking the total store count to 19,979 with area under operation at 78.1 million sq. ft. The registered customer base grew to 378 million, making Reliance Retail one of the most preferred retailers in the country. The business delivered consistent performance underpinned by uptick in festive demand, the company said.
Isha M. Ambani, Executive Director, Reliance Retail Reliance Retail Ventures Limited, said, “Reliance Retail delivered a steady quarterly performance, serving millions of customers across their shopping needs. By prioritizing trend-focused assortments and seamless omni-channel experiences, we continue to foster strong customer engagement and loyalty. As we navigate a shifting consumer landscape, we remain steadfast in our vision to redefine Indian retail through innovation and excellence."
Dinesh Taluja, Chief Financial Officer, Reliance Retail added that the retail business saw the highest ever revenue this quarter helped by festive demand and GST rationalization.
EBITDA margin was impacted by festive offers and promotions, investment in hyper local commerce and one time impact of new Labour Code, he added.
“JioMart added 5.9 million customers during the quarter. Customer base expanded 43% YoY. Digital fashion business Ajio saw average bill value grow by over 20%.
Shein continues to see a pretty good scale up. App installs have crossed 6.5 million,” said Taluja.
Reliance Retail’s jewellery business witnessed a good quarter driven by rising gold prices. “The average bill value is up 73% driven by rising gold prices,” said Taluja.
Reliance Retail’s FMCG business Reliance Consumer Products Limited (RCPL) became a direct subsidiary of RIL from December 1 2025.
Ketan Mody, Chief Operating Officer, RCPL said that the FMCG business is continuing to gain momentum in the beverages category, adding that the business continues to see robust growth in the snacks business, with value packs seeing more demand.
“We will be more than doubling our capacity on beverages this year. We have also started work on our food parks,” said Mody.
During this quarter we have acquired global brands like brylcream, tony & guy, Badedas and Matey
JioStar
JioStar reported strong revenues of Rs 8,010 crore with EBITDA (including other income) of Rs 1,303 crore for Q3 FY26.
JioHotstar averaged 450 million Monthly Active Users (MAUs), up 13 percent sequentially.
The business further fortified its industry leading TV Entertainment viewership share to 34.6 percent, the company said.
Disclaimer: Moneycontrol is part of the Network18 group. Network18 is controlled by Independent Media Trust, of which Reliance Industries is the sole beneficiary.
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