The bottom line was well ahead of ETNow’s survey estimate of Rs 16,759 crore. Revenue came in slightly short of the expected Rs 2.22 lakh crore.
A 19% rise in other income to Rs 2,918 crore helped the bottom line in the quarter.
Consolidated earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) rose 22% year-on-year to a record Rs 41,389 crore.
Higher revenue and margin expansion in digital services segment, favorable mix, operational efficiency in retail business, higher fuel cracks in transportation, better gas price realization and higher volumes in oil segment and gas contributed to the strong operating performance.
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Depreciation increased 43% YoY to Rs 11,456 crore due to expanded asset base across all businesses and higher network utilization in digital services business. Finance costs rose 64% year-on-year to Rs 5,819 crore, mainly due to higher interest rates and loan balances, RIL said.
Outgoing taxes for the quarter were sharply lower than the year-ago period at Rs 2,787 crore due to lower deferred taxes. Meanwhile, capital expenditure for the quarter was Rs 44,413 crore.
RIL’s FY23 gross revenue grew 23% y-o-y to Rs 9.76 lakh crore on the back of continued growth momentum across all businesses.
The digital services business achieved growth of 20% year-on-year, while the retail business saw growth of 30.4% year-on-year.
O2C business revenue improved nearly 19%, driven by higher realizations on the back of a 19% increase in the average price of Brent crude oil. Oil and gas business revenue doubled due to a sharp increase in gas price realization and an 11% increase in KG-D6 gas production.
Capital expenditure for the year ended March stood at 1.42 lakh crore rupees ($17.3 billion).
Net debt as of March 31 was Rs 1.10 lakh crore ($13.4 billion). Debt outstanding and cash and cash equivalents were Rs 3.15 lakh crore and Rs 2.04 lakh crore ($24.9 billion), respectively.
The oil-to-chemicals business reported revenue of Rs 1.29 lakh crore, down nearly 12% year-on-year, mainly due to a sharp decline in crude oil prices and lower realization of downstream product prices.
Operating profit for the quarter improved 14.4% y-o-y to Rs 16,293 crore, with margin expanding 290 basis points to 12.7%, driven by strength in transportation fuel cracks, optimized feedstock pricing and favorable economics for ethane cracking.
Jio Platforms put up a stellar show, registering record consolidated quarterly revenue of Rs 29,871 crore in Q4, up 14.3% year-on-year. Operating profit, which rose 16% year-on-year to Rs 12,767 crore, was also the highest ever for a quarter.
Healthy revenue growth was driven by the full impact of rate hikes, cable growth and the continued addition of mobility service subscribers, while operating profit was driven by higher revenue and steady margin improvement, the company said.
Average revenue per user, or ARPU, for the quarter stood at Rs 178.8 crore, up slightly from Rs 178.2 crore a quarter ago, but up 7% year-on-year. Year-on-year growth in ARPU was driven by tariff increases, a better subscriber mix and data add-ons within select user cohorts, it said.
Jio continued to lead subscriber acquisition in the sector. The total customer base was 439.3 million in the March quarter, compared with 432.9 million a quarter ago. The telco’s network added 29.2 million subscribers in FY23, with monthly churn remaining steady at 2%.
“5G has led to a significant improvement in customer experience, reflected in higher engagement levels among Jio users,” Akash M Ambani, Chairman, Reliance Jio Infocomm, said in a release.
For the conglomerate’s retail business, it was also a quarter of setting new records. Reliance Retail Ventures’ consolidated revenue rose more than 19% year-on-year to a record Rs 69,267 crore. Operating profit jumped 33% year-on-year to a record Rs 4,914 crore.
The major retailer recorded the highest footfall of 219 million across all formats, with 966 store openings.
Broad-based growth in consumer baskets drove profit and operating results.
“Reliance Retail continues on the path of registering industry-leading year-on-year growth at a scale unmatched in India,” said Isha M Ambani, CEO, Reliance Retail Ventures.