RIL posts record EBITDA, profit in Q3, driven by digital services, retail

Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Ltd has posted 7.7% YoY growth in the conglomerate's consolidated revenue at ₹2,67,186 crore for the October-December 2024 quarter on strong growth across digital services and retail unit leading the performance, the company says in a statement.

The oil-to-telecom giant's consolidated EBITDA increased by 7.8% Y-o-Y to a record high of ₹48,003 crore, while the consolidated profit and the share of profit/(loss) of associates & JVs increased by 11.7% Y-o-Y to ₹21,930 crore. PAT, however, surged 7% year-on-year to ₹18,540 crore for the third quarter even as capital expenditure came in at ₹32,259 crore.

RIL's consolidated net debt as of December 31, 2024, was marginally lower at ₹115,465 crore as against ₹1,19,372 crore as of 31st December 2023.

Reliance Jio's parent company Jio Platforms' EBIDTA for the quarter increased by 18.8% Y-o-Y to a new high of ₹16,585 crore, while its net profit for the quarter grew 26% Y-o-Y to ₹6,861 crore. RIL says in Q3 FY25, Jio's subscriber base stood at 482.1 million at the end of December 2024, 2.4% higher Y-o-Y.

The net subscriber addition in Q3 FY25 stood at 3.3 million, with a rebound in mobility subscriber addition. "It was a record quarter for home connects with 1.9-2 million new additions. JioAirFiber is rapidly growing to global leadership, with a subscriber base of 4.5 million," says RIL.

In terms of 5G, RIL says Jio remains the world's leading standalone 5G operator (outside China), with a subscriber base of 170 million. "True5G accounts for 40% of Jio’s wireless traffic. Jio has deployed multiple global first technologies on its True5G network including VoNR certification, slice-based and device-aware layer management, need-based bandwidth allocation leading to energy efficiency, location accuracy, and interference mitigation without capacity loss," says the company.

During the said quarter, Jio's ARPU increased further to ₹203.3, with the sustained impact of tariff hike and better subscriber mix. "The full impact of the tariff hike will flow through over the next few months," says RIL.

In Q3 FY2024-25, Jio says it recorded industry-leading customer engagement with per capita data consumption of 32.3 GB/month and total data traffic growth of 22%.

RIL's other major unit, Reliance Retail, saw its gross revenue for the quarter growing 8.8% Y-o-Y to ₹90,333 crore, driven by productivity improvement initiatives and increased customer engagement during the festive period through new product launches, promotions and in-store activations.

Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and MD, Reliance Industries, says Reliance has grown exponentially over the years and has set new benchmarks across all its businesses. "The delivery of record EBITDA and PAT at a consolidated level for this quarter is a testament to this. Robust growth in the digital services business was led by sustained subscriber addition and consistent improvement in customer engagement metrics. This was well supported by a favourable subscriber mix, with an increasing number of users upgrading to 5G networks," says Ambani.

On RIL's retail unit's performance, Ambani says the business ably capitalised on the pick-up in consumption amid festive demand during the quarter. "A superior understanding of customer needs and preferences enables Reliance Retail to serve a wide variety of demographic profiles with the right product, at the right time, through the right channel. With customer-centric innovation at its core, the business constantly endeavours to enhance the shopping experience of its customers through its vast reach and a constantly expanding product basket."

On the O2C business, the RIL Chairman says the business registered growth even in this prolonged period of volatility in the global energy markets. "Refining margins recovered sequentially, with petrochemical deltas exhibiting a mixed trend. Upstream segment continues to play a pivotal role in providing the crucial transition fuel bolstering India’s energy security." Ambani says RIL is geared up for "transformational growth" in the near future.