Reliance Q1 profit falls 22% as Jio files IPO papers

Reliance Industries posted a consolidated net profit of ₹20,946 crore for the April-June quarter, down 22.4% from a year earlier but up 23.4% from the prior quarter. Revenue rose 25.4% year-on-year to ₹3,11,850 crore, driven primarily by higher crude oil prices in the conglomerate's oil-to-chemicals division.

The standout development for markets was the announcement that Jio Platforms has filed its draft red herring prospectus with SEBI. "The upcoming IPO will be an important milestone in Jio’s journey and will give investors an opportunity to participate in India’s digital growth story," said Mukesh D. Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director.

Jio's underlying metrics supported the IPO narrative. The telecom unit's profit rose 9.2% to ₹7,764 crore while EBITDA jumped 15.1%. Average revenue per user increased to ₹215.6, and data consumption surged 26.9% to 43.7 GB per month. "Jio’s performance across mobility, home broadband and enterprise services remained strong, driving healthy earnings growth of 15% YoY," Ambani said.

Outside of telecom, profitability faced pressure. Retail profit fell 14.2% to ₹2,806 crore as margins contracted by 80 basis points, a cost the company attributed to infrastructure investments for its expanding digital commerce operations. The oil-to-chemicals segment saw EBITDA rise 17.2% on the back of high middle distillate cracks, though margins slipped 100 basis points as a 54.1% surge in crude prices outpaced downstream gains.

The media business, anchored by JioHotstar, reached a record 53 crore average monthly active users, pushing segment profit up 14.5% to ₹665 crore. Meanwhile, the upstream oil and gas segment saw revenue edge up 3.2% to ₹6,298 crore, though EBITDA margins contracted 290 basis points.

The mixed performance across units pushed consolidated EBITDA up 10.1% to ₹54,067 crore, but the overall EBITDA margin tightened by 210 basis points to 15.9%. Reliance reduced its outstanding debt to ₹3,69,705 crore from ₹3,74,421 crore in the previous quarter. "Reliance has made a steady start to FY27, with all businesses delivering strong operating performance. Our diverse business portfolio has once again demonstrated its resilience in a quarter which witnessed continuing geopolitical tensions and volatile commodity markets," Ambani said.

For investors, the quarterly earnings provide a backdrop for the impending Jio listing. The telecom unit's steady ARPU growth and subscriber scale offer a counterweight to the margin dilution currently seen in retail and energy operations.