RIL Q2 profit rises: India ready to go digital, says Mukesh Ambani

After posting a 12.5 percent rise in its September-quarter consolidated net profit, Chairman and Managing Director Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) Mukesh Ambani said that India is ready to 'go digital' as the country has so far witnessed a transformation from voice to data.

"The world is transforming, turning digital and India is not going to be left behind. India is ready to go digital, move from voice to data and Jio is creating the foundation of data for the next generation business. Sustained demand growth coupled with supply disruptions further tightened demand-supply balances globally during the quarter," Mukesh Ambani said in a statement released after the quarterly results.

For the quarter ended September 30, Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) achieved revenue of Rs. 101,169 crore, witnessing an increase of 23.9 percent as compared to Rs. 81,651 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year, attributed to the increase in prices and volumes in refining, petrochemical and retail businesses.

Operating profit before other income and depreciation increased by 39.4 percent to Rs. 15,565 crore, from Rs. 11,164 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year, driven by the refining, petrochemicals and retail businesses, and positive contribution from digital services starting from this quarter.

Further, expenditure increased by 35.8 percent to Rs. 12,323 crore, as against Rs. 9,073 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year, primarily due to network expenses and access charges pertaining to the digital services business, post commencement of commercial operations.

The capital expenditure for the aforementioned period was Rs. 15,653 crore, including exchange rate difference capitalization. Capital expenditure was principally on account of ongoing projects in the petrochemicals and refining business at Jamnagar and digital services business.

"The results also reflect strong underlying fundamentals of our refining and petrochemicals businesses. Sustained demand growth coupled with supply disruptions further tightened demand-supply balances globally during the quarter. The benefits of optimizing our business through new projects are beginning to emerge. The structural strength in energy and materials business environment augurs well for our new capacities which are coming on-line this year," said Ambani.

The company identified 15.3 million net additions of Jio during the quarter, with highest per capita data consumption at 9.62 GB per user per month, and 178 crore hours of high speed video consumption per month.

During the quarter ended September 30, it is estimated that around 27 million LTE smartphones were sold in India. On gross add basis, Jio achieved over two-third market share of the incremental smartphones sold in the country. The cumulative LTE smartphone base is estimated to have reached 160 million. Jio has over 85 percent market share in the LTE smartphone base in the country, and has tied up with leading smartphone OEMs such as Apple, Asus, Lenovo, Motorola, OnePlus and others.