RIL's performance likely to remain soft in Q4, Jio expected to come to aid

Rising telecom revenues to partly compensate for muted show of refining, retail & petrochemicals

In a weak demand environment, with the energy sector taking a hit and retail sales getting impacted by the 21-day nationwide lockdown, the performance of Reliance Industries (RIL) is likely to remain soft in the fourth quarter of financial year 2019-20 quarter (Q4FY20).

Analysts estimate that Q4 might be amongst RIL’s weakest in a while, but they expect rising revenues and profits in the telecom business to save the day.

Initial estimates indicate that the largest contributors, the refining and petrochemicals (petchem) businesses, will see significant pressure on profitability with the refining segment’s operating profit (earnings before interest and taxes, or Ebit)