Reliance Industries, one of India's biggest companies, on Friday reported weaker quarterly profits than expected, as a muted performance in its retail business overshadowed strong growth in its telecoms division.
The oil-to-telecoms giant, led by Asia's richest man Mukesh Ambani, is India's most valuable company by market capitalisation.
The conglomerate said net profit came in at 186.45bn rupees ($2.05bn) for the October-December quarter, up just 0.57% from the same period last year.
Analysts had on average expected a bottom line of 198.96bn rupees, according to estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
Revenue from operations for Reliance meanwhile rose 10.5% year-on-year to 2.69tn rupees.
But this was accompanied by a 11.5% jump in expenses that it said included the cost of complying with India's new labour laws.
Despite its aggressive push into retail, telecoms and green energy, Reliance continues to rely on its traditional oil business for profits.
While its core oil-to-chemicals (O2C) division struggled for parts of 2024 and 2025 — as global uncertainty roiled the industry — it has started to bounce back.
In a statement, Ambani noted that the "robust growth" in the O2C business was led by "significantly higher fuel margins" and "operational flexibility".
Reliance's consumer-facing businesses have long been fast-growing bright spots.
But for the December quarter, the conglomerate's retail unit was hurt by weaker margins.
The telecoms unit, which is gearing up for a public listing later this year, saw its average revenue per user grow 5.1% year-on-year.
The company attributed the bump to higher demand for 5G services.
Reliance Industries shares have slipped over 7% so far this year.
