RIL Q2 net up 28% at Rs 4,923 cr

Reliance Industries Ltd posted a 27.8 per cent rise in quarterly net profit, beating estimates, helped by higher gas output from its field off India's east coast.

India's top listed conglomerate, with interests in refining, petrochemicals, oil and gas exploration, and retail, said on Saturday net profit rose to Rs 4,923 crore ($1.1 billion) in the fiscal second-quarter ended September 30 from Rs 3,852 crore a year earlier.

A Reuters poll had forecast quarterly net profit of Rs 4,830 crore.

Controlled by Mukesh Ambani, the world's fourth-richest man according to Forbes magazine, the company has struck three shale-gas joint ventures with US firms so far this year.

Ambani has made no secret of Reliance's overseas ambitions, and is looking to invest in areas such as shale gas as well as to widen its businesses beyond petrochemicals, refining, oil and natural gas exploration, and retail.

Shares in Reliance, valued at nearly $81 billion, have risen 0.6 per cent so far in 2010, lagging a nearly 15 per cent gain in the main BSE index.