Reliance Industries third-quarter profit rises, beats estimate

(Reuters) - Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries Ltd on Thursday posted a 8.8 percent rise in third-quarter profit, beating analyst estimates, driven by growth in its petrochemicals business and refining business.

Net profit on a consolidated basis - which includes businesses spanning refining, petrochemicals, oil and gas exploration, telecommunications and retail - was 102.51 billion rupees ($1.44 billion) for October-December, versus 94.20 billion rupees in the same period a year earlier.

The result compared with the 96.48 billion rupees average of 12 analyst estimates compiled by Refinitiv Eikon.

Its telecoms unit Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd posted a nearly 65 percent profit jump to 8.31 billion rupees, its fifth consecutive profitable quarter.

Reliance's consolidated revenue grew 56.4 percent to 1.60 trillion rupees.

($1 = 71.0290 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Krishna V Kurup and Tanvi Mehta; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Alexander Smith)