Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance becomes first Indian company to cross $100b annual revenue

• Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries becomes first Indian company to cross $100 billion in annual revenue.
• Company reports a net profit of 162.03 billion rupees ($2.1 billion) between January and March.
• The conglomerate's income in the quarter helped gross revenue cross 7.93 trillion rupees for the financial year ended March 31.

MUMBAI: Asia's richest man Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries became the first Indian company to cross $100 billion in annual revenues after the oil-to-telecoms giant reported strong quarterly results across its energy, telecoms and retail businesses.

The conglomerate reported a net profit of 162.03 billion rupees ($2.1 billion) between January and March, 22.5% higher than the same period last year.

Revenues from operations increased 36.8% year-on-year to 2.12 trillion rupees, aided by both its legacy energy business and newer ventures such as retail.

Income in the quarter helped gross revenue cross 7.93 trillion rupees ($104.6 billion) for the financial year ended March 31.

"Despite the ongoing challenges of the pandemic and heightened geopolitical uncertainties, Reliance has delivered a robust performance," chairman and managing director Ambani said in a statement.

"Our O2C (oil-to-chemical) business has proven its resilience and has demonstrated strong recovery despite volatility in the energy markets," the billionaire added.

Revenues from Reliance´s oil refinery and petrochemicals business -- which accounts for more than half of total income -- benefited from higher crude oil prices, rising 44.2% year-on-year to 1.46 trillion rupees.

The energy giant´s smaller oil and gas exploration and production business saw revenues jump 136.8% year-on-year to 20 billion rupees, helped by higher gas prices.

But India intervening to keep domestic fuel prices low even as global oil prices skyrocketed in the quarter hurt Reliance´s nascent petrol pump partnership with British oil and gas major BP, the company said.

Net profit from telecoms arm Reliance Jio rose 22.9% to 43.13 billion rupees, boosted by tariff hikes undertaken in December 2021, even as its customer base shrunk by 10.9 million subscribers in the quarter.

Revenues from Reliance´s retail business hit a fresh all-time high of 580.17 billion rupees, helped by an early summer and strong demand for clothing and groceries.

Reliance´s multi-billion-dollar fortune has been powered by oil and petrochemicals businesses, but the company has diversified into new areas including telecoms and retail in recent years.

The company´s shares closed 0.74% lower in Mumbai ahead of the earnings announcement on Friday.