Energy crisis hits RIL’s Q4 net;

Reliance Industries (RIL) 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 capitalization of about ₹18 trillion, reported a double-digit decline in net profit on both a consolidated (attributable to company owners) and standalone basis due to higher feedstock prices due to disruption in global energy markets.

The Mukesh Ambani-led company’s consolidated net profit attributable to company owners fell 12.6 per cent year-on-year (YoY) to ₹16,971 crore in Q4FY26 from ₹19,407 crore a year ago, and was down 9 per cent from ₹18,645 crore in Q3FY26 (October-December 2025 quarter).

This was the biggest decline in the company’s earnings in the last 13 quarters. RIL’s consolidated net profit had earlier declined 14.9 per cent year-on-year in the December 2022 quarter (Q3FY23). However, unlike the latest reporting quarter, the decline in Q3FY23 was driven by a one-time increase in other income in Q3FY22. In comparison, RIL’s consolidated net profit was up 0.6 per cent year-on-year in Q3FY26 and 2.4 per cent in Q4FY25.

For full year FY26, RIL’s consolidated net profit rose 16 per cent to ₹80,775 crore, while net sales rose 9.6 per cent to ₹10.57 trillion over the previous year. This is the first time an Indian company has recorded annual revenues of ₹10 trillion or more.

However, RIL’s annual profit before tax (PBT), excluding other income and extraordinary gains such as profit from the sale of its stake in Asian Paints, rose 7 per cent to ₹94,200 crore in FY26. RIL had reported a one-time profit of about ₹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: “Throughout 2025-26, we faced geopolitical disruptions, volatile energy prices and changing global trade patterns. These headwinds impacted businesses across the world. India maintained its economic growth path despite all this, as did Reliance. The breadth of our portfolio and strong domestic orientation helped weather the volatility in the external environment. Of.”

RIL’s revenue growth accelerated in the fourth quarter due to the West Asia conflict and resulting inflation in commodity and energy prices. Consolidated net sales grew 12.5 per cent year-on-year 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 RIL’s consolidated net sales in the last 13 quarters.

Similarly, the company’s standalone net sales grew 6.7 per cent year-on-year to ₹1.42 trillion in Q4FY26 from about ₹1.33 trillion a year ago and ₹1.21 trillion in Q3FY26. In contrast, RIL’s standalone net sales had declined on a year-on-year basis in the last six quarters due to lower prices of transportation fuels and petrochemicals.

However, the company’s raw material or feedstock costs rose faster than revenues, leading to a contraction in operating margins and a decline in net profit.

The biggest impact of the West Asia conflict was on RIL’s standalone operations, which largely include its oil refining, petrochemicals and synthetic fiber businesses. The company’s standalone net profit fell 33.8 per cent year-on-year to ₹7,422 crore in Q4FY26 from ₹11,217 crore a year ago and ₹9,396 crore in Q3FY26.

This was the company’s lowest standalone profit since the September 2022 quarter (Q2FY23), when it had reported a standalone net profit of ₹6,915 crore. The latest quarter marked the sharpest 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 a net profit of ₹16,563 crore. One basis point is one hundredth of one percentage point.

This was also the lowest Ebitda margin for RIL since the September 2022 quarter (Q3FY23), when the margin had declined to 14.9 per cent. The company’s standalone Ebitda margin declined 440 basis points to 10.6 per cent of total revenue in Q4FY26 from 14.9 per cent a year ago and 14.7 per cent in Q3FY26. This was the lowest EBITDA margin for RIL’s standalone business in 46 quarters.

On a consolidated basis, RIL’s raw material expenses increased 20.2 per cent year-on-year, much higher than the growth in net sales.

RIL’s consumer business, Jio Platforms (JPL), which includes telecom and retail ventures, performed relatively better. Jio Platforms was the top performer and reported a net profit of ₹7,935 crore for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2026 (Q4FY26), up 13 percent from the same quarter last fiscal. JPL’s revenue for Q4FY26 stood at ₹ 44,928 crore, showing a growth of 12.7 per cent year-on-year.

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 reported in the previous quarter. JPL’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda) for the quarter stood at ₹20,060 crore, up 17.9 per cent year-on-year. The telco said the margin growth of 230 bps YoY was driven by higher average revenue per user and operating leverage.

On an annual basis, net profit was ₹30,049 crore, up 15.1 per cent, while revenue was ₹1.47 trillion, up 14.6 per cent. Ebitda for the full year was Rs 76,255 crore, up 18.8 per cent, with margins expanding to 51.9 per cent in FY26 from 50 per cent in FY20.

Jio reported average revenue per user (Arpu), a monthly metric of a telecom service provider’s profitability, at ₹214 in Q4, marginally higher than ₹213.7 in Q3FY26. However, year-on-year, Arpu was up 3.8 per cent at ₹206.2.

Overall, Reliance Jio had 524.4 million users, of which 268 million were using 5G by March 2026, which is 54 percent of the customer base. The carrier added 9.1 million customers in the latest quarter. Jio’s 5G data traffic during the fourth quarter was 66 billion gigabytes (GB), up nearly 35 percent year-on-year, while total voice traffic was 1.54 trillion minutes, up 3.4 percent from the previous year.

Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd (RRVL) on Friday reported a 1.6 per cent year-on-year rise in its net profit at Rs 3,574 crore for the fourth quarter of financial year 2025-26 (FY26). Reliance Retail’s EBITDA from operations grew 2.8 percent to ₹6,690 crore.

The country’s largest retailer’s revenue rose 11.1 per cent year-on-year to ₹87,344 crore, while its gross revenue rose 10.8 per cent to ₹98,232 crore. Sequentially, growth in its revenue from operations and net profit remained largely stable. It closed FY26 with revenue from operations at ₹327,143 crore and net profit at ₹13,838 crore, up by nearly 12 per cent.

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. Its finance costs declined 22.8 per cent year-on-year to ₹525 crore in the quarter ended March. Reliance Consumer Products reported 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-fold to ₹22,000 crore.

Many adverse situations due to West Asia crisis

Multiple headwinds arising from the West Asia crisis constrained margins in Reliance Industries’ oil-to-chemicals business during the quarter ending March 2026, the company said in its quarterly results. “Transport fuel cracks remained strong, but a number of headwinds from the conflict hampered margin capture: sharp increase in crude premium on physical barrels, increase in freight and insurance costs, re-introduction of special additional excise duty (SAED) on diesel and aviation turbine fuel (ATF) exports, and lower fuel realizations at retail outlets where RIL kept prices to protect consumers,” the company said.

The company responded by diverting propane and butane to boost LPG production, circulating KGD6 gas to priority areas, optimizing quick crude sourcing and maintaining high gasifier availability to reduce 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 realization in KGD6 and CBM, as well as lower gas volumes from the KGD6 field after diverting supplies to priority areas in national interest during the quarter.

The company also said in a presentation that the West Asia crisis has caused the biggest-ever cut in global oil supply, estimated at about 10.1 million barrels per day (mbpd), while transit through the Strait of Hormuz has fallen from 20 mbpd in February to 3.8 mbpd now.

In response, RIL changed Persian Gulf loading contracts to mitigate reductions in refinery runs, worked with West Asian suppliers on alternative routing for stranded crude, and diversified crude oil sourcing across multiple geographies.