Reliance Industries shrugs off oil market turmoil with strong 1Q earnings

Refining resilience: Reliance Industries (RIL), India’s largest conglomerate by market cap, kicked off FY 2027 with a stronger-than-expected 1Q, reporting a consolidated net income of INR 209.4 bn (USD 2.4 bn), down 22.4% y-o-y, as per the company’s financial statement (pdf), beating Bloomberg consensus estimates of INR 198.2 bn (USD 2.3 bn). Reliance is one of India’s largest importers of MENA crude.

Revenue from operations crossed the INR 3 tn mark for the first time, rising 25.4% y-o-y to INR 3.1 tn (USD 35.9 bn). The bottom-line decline from a year earlier was largely due to a one-off gain from the sale of its Asian Paints stake in the base quarter. Excluding that, underlying earnings remained resilient.

Why it matters: Reliance reduced its crude oil purchases from the Gulf during the quarter, relying heavily on Russian barrels amid the Iran war and the Strait of Hormuz disruptions, the company’s investor presentation (pdf) shows. For Reliance, the diversification appears to have paid off. While the Iran conflict rattled global oil markets, the company’s refining operations remained largely insulated — helping deliver one of the strongest earnings of the season.

Reliance’s oil-to-chemicals (O2C) business held up despite crude market volatility following the Iran war and disruptions in the energy markets. O2C revenue jumped 30.4% y-o-y to INR 2 tn (USD 23.2 bn) as strong middle-distillate cracks, better petrochemical spreads, and operational flexibility helped offset concerns that higher freight, ins., and crude premiums would weigh on margins. The segment accounted for nearly two-thirds of group revenue during the quarter, underscoring that Reliance’s traditional energy businesses continue to bankroll its newer growth engines.

Jio Platforms, the digital arm of the conglomerate, posted revenue of INR 391.7 bn (USD 4.5 bn), up 11.8% y-o-y, while net income rose 9.2% to INR 77.6 bn (USD 894 mn), delivering a strong quarter ahead of its IPO. The performance will be closely watched in the Gulf, where sovereign investors including the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Mubadala, and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund remain among Jio’s high-profile backers.