Reliance Industries’ (RIL’s) results for the January-March 2026 quarter reflect the adverse impact of the ongoing West Asia conflict on India Inc’s operations and earnings. India’s most valuable company, with a market capitalisation of nearly ₹18 trillion, reported a double-digit decline in net profit on both consolidated (attributable to owners of the company) and standalone bases, owing to higher feedstock prices caused by disruption in global energy markets.
The Mukesh Ambani-led company’s consolidated net profit attributable to owners of the company fell 12.6 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) to ₹16,971 crore in Q4FY26, from ₹19,407 crore a year earlier, and was 9 per cent lower than ₹18,645 crore in Q3FY26 (October-December 2025 quarter).
This was also the company’s steepest earnings decline in the past 13 quarters. RIL’s consolidated net profit had previously declined 14.9 per cent Y-o-Y in the December 2022 quarter (Q3FY23). However, unlike the latest reporting quarter, the decline in Q3FY23 was driven by a one-time rise in other income in Q3FY22. By comparison, RIL’s consolidated net profit had risen 0.6 per cent Y-o-Y in Q3FY26 and 2.4 per cent in Q4FY25.
For the full year FY26, RIL’s consolidated net profit rose 16 per cent to ₹80,775 crore, while net sales increased 9.6 per cent to ₹10.57 trillion over the previous year. This marks the first time an Indian company has reported annual revenue of ₹10 trillion or more.
However, RIL’s annual profit before tax (PBT), excluding other income and exceptional gains such as the profit from the sale of its stake in Asian Paints, rose 7 per cent Y-o-Y to ₹94,200 crore in FY26. RIL had reported a one-time gain of nearly ₹9,000 crore from the sale of its stake in Asian Paints in Q1FY26.
Commenting on the results, Mukesh Ambani, chairman and managing director of RIL, said: “Through 2025-26, we faced geopolitical disruptions, volatile energy prices and shifting global trade patterns. These headwinds weighed on businesses across the world. India held its economic growth course through all this, as did Reliance. The breadth of our portfolio and strong domestic orientation helped navigate volatility in the external environment.”
The West Asia conflict and the resulting inflation in commodity and energy prices led to an acceleration in RIL’s revenue growth in Q4. Consolidated net sales rose 12.5 per cent Y-o-Y to a record high of ₹2.94 trillion in Q4FY26, from around ₹2.61 trillion in Q4FY25 and ₹2.65 trillion in Q3FY26. This was the fastest growth in consolidated net sales for RIL in the past 13 quarters.
Similarly, the company’s standalone net sales rose 6.7 per cent Y-o-Y to ₹1.42 trillion in Q4FY26, from around ₹1.33 trillion a year earlier and ₹1.21 trillion in Q3FY26. In contrast, RIL’s standalone net sales had declined on a Y-o-Y basis in the previous six quarters due to lower prices for transport fuels and petrochemicals.
However, the company’s raw material, or feedstock, costs rose faster than revenue, leading to a contraction in operating margins and a decline in net profit.
The West Asia conflict had its biggest impact on RIL’s standalone operations, which largely comprise its oil refining, petrochemicals and synthetic fibres businesses. The company’s standalone net profit fell 33.8 per cent Y-o-Y to ₹7,422 crore in Q4FY26, from ₹11,217 crore a year earlier and ₹9,396 crore in Q3FY26.
This was the company’s lowest standalone profit since the September 2022 quarter (Q2FY23), when it had reported standalone net profit of ₹6,915 crore. The latest quarter also recorded the steepest Y-o-Y decline in standalone net profit since the June 2023 quarter (Q1FY24), when RIL’s net profit had fallen 36.2 per cent. On a consolidated basis, this was the company’s lowest quarterly net profit since the September 2024 quarter, when it had reported net profit of ₹16,563 crore. One basis point is one-hundredth of a percentage point.
This was also the lowest Ebitda margin for RIL since the September 2022 quarter (Q3FY23), when margins had shrunk to 14.9 per cent. The company’s standalone Ebitda margin declined 440 basis points to 10.6 per cent of overall revenue in Q4FY26, from 14.9 per cent a year earlier and 14.7 per cent in Q3FY26. This was the lowest Ebitda margin for RIL’s standalone business in 46 quarters.
RIL’s raw material expenses on a consolidated basis rose 20.2 per cent Y-o-Y, significantly outpacing growth in net sales.
RIL’s consumer business, Jio Platforms (JPL), comprising telecom and retail ventures performed relatively better. Jio Platforms was the top performer and it reported a net profit of ₹7,935 crore for the fourth quarter of financial year 2026 (Q4FY26), up 13 per cent from the same quarter last financial year. JPL’s revenue stood at ₹ 44,928 crore for Q4FY26, representing a 12.7 per cent year-on-year increase.
Sequentially, profit was up 4 per cent from ₹7,629 crore in Q3FY26, while revenue was up 2.7 per cent from ₹37,262 crore recorded in the previous quarter. JPL’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (Ebitda) for the quarter were at ₹20,060 crore, up 17.9 per cent on-year. The telco added that margin increase of 230 bps Y-o-Y was led by higher average revenue per user and operating leverage.
On an annual basis, net profit was ₹30,049 crore, up 15.1 per cent, on revenues of ₹1.47 trillion, which were up 14.6 per cent. Ebitda for the full year was Rs 76,255 crore, up 18.8 per cent, with margin expanding to 51.9 per cent in FY26, from 50 per cent in FY25.
Jio reported an average revenue per user (Arpu), a monthly metric of profitability of a telecom services provider, of Rs 214 in Q4, marginally up from ₹213.7 in Q3FY26. However, year-on-year, the Arpu was up 3.8 per cent, from ₹206.2.
Overall, Reliance Jio had 524.4 million users of which 268 million were using 5G as of March 2026, making up 54 per cent of the customer base. The carrier added 9.1 million subscribers in the latest quarter. Jio’s 5G data traffic during the fourth quarter was 66 billion gigabytes (GB), up nearly 35 per cent on year, while the total voice traffic was 1.54 trillion minutes, up 3.4 per cent on year.
Reliance Retail Ventures Limited (RRVL) on Friday reported a 1.6 per cent on-year rise in its net profit at Rs 3,574 crore in the fourth quarter of the financial year 2025-26 (FY26). Reliance Retail’s Ebitda from operations increased 2.8 per cent to ₹6,690 crore.
The country’s largest retailer’s revenue from operations came in at ₹87,344 crore, up 11.1 per cent on-year, while its gross revenue was up 10.8 per cent to ₹98,232 crore. Sequentially, growth in its revenue from operations and net profit was largely flat. It closed FY26 with revenue from operations at ₹327,143 crore and net profit of ₹13,838 crore, up about 12 per cent each.
During the quarter, it opened 333 new stores taking its total store count to 20,160 with a total area of 78.3 million square feet. In the quarter ended March, its finance cost was down 22.8 per cent year-on-year at ₹525 crore. Reliance Consumer Products reported a gross revenue of ₹7,350 crore in the January-March quarter which grew 2.2 times and in FY26, its gross revenue also grew two times to ₹22,000 crore.
Multiple headwinds from West Asia crisis
Several headwinds arising from the West Asia crisis constrained margins across the oil-to-chemicals business of Reliance Industries during the quarter ended March 2026, the company said in its quarterly results. “Transportation fuel cracks remained strong but multiple headwinds from the conflict constrained margin capture: sharp rise in crude premiums on physical barrels, elevated freight and insurance costs, reintroduction of special additional excise duty (SAED) on diesel and aviation turbine fuel (ATF) exports, and fuel under-recoveries at retail outlets where RIL held prices to protect consumers,” the company said.
The company responded by diverting propane and butane to boost LPG output, channelling KGD6 gas to priority sectors, optimising agile crude sourcing, and maintaining high gasifier availability to minimise fuel costs.
The company’s oil and gas exploration business recorded revenue of ₹5,867 crore, down 8.9 per cent due to lower gas price realisation in KGD6 and CBM, as well as lower gas volumes from the KGD6 field after supplies were diverted to priority sectors in the national interest during the quarter.
The company also said in a presentation that the West Asia crisis had led to the largest-ever cut in global oil supply, estimated at around 10.1 million barrels per day (mbpd), while transit through the Strait of Hormuz had fallen from 20 mbpd in February to 3.8 mbpd now.
In response, RIL replaced Persian Gulf loading contracts to minimise cuts in refinery runs, worked with West Asian suppliers on alternative routing for stranded crude, and diversified crude sourcing across multiple geographies.
(With inputs from Gulveen Aulakh, Sharleen D’souza & Sudheer Pal Singh)
