RIL profit crosses Rs 10,000 cr mark; turn-over touches USD 25.51 bn

Mumbai, Apr 26 (UNI) The Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) has achieved a 20 per cent growth in net profit at Rs 10,908 crore (USD 2.51 billion), redefining the highest ever profit margin gained by any private sector company in India till date.

The financial results announced today also indicated a turn-over of a whopping Rs 110,886 crore (USD 25.51 billion), with a 24 per cent growth from the previous year, benefiting the national exchequer hugely to the tune of Rs 12,392 crore (USD 2.85 billion).

The robust growth has derived support from the production hike in oil, gas and petrochemical sectors which is expected to sustain in the ensuing year also, sources said.

While the crude processed in past year grew by 4 per cent to 31.7 million tonnes(MT), the petrochemicals production marked a 16 per cent increase to 14.0 MT, yielding 36 per cent hike in net annual revenues in this segment at Rs 42,226 crore.

The oil production grew by 19 per cent to 547,000 tonnes. In the Refining and Marketing(R&M) segment, the company posted a growth of 21 per cent from Rs 71,091 crore in FY06 to Rs 86,009 in FY07.

Besides this, exports of RIL crossed a record USD 15.02 billion mark which accounts for 12 per cent of the aggregate exports from India.

''Our petrochemicals and refining business has recorded its best ever performance in past year, creating a further value for millions of shareholders through our strategic investments in Reliance Petrochemicals Limited(RPL) and through the value accrete merger of IPCL(Indian Petrochemicals Corporation Limited) with Reliance Industries Limited(RIL),'' said Mukesh D Ambani, CMD, RIL.

For the quarter ended March 31, the net profit grew 4 per cent to Rs 27,399 crore from the previous years' margin of Rs 26,448 crore in past year.

The Earnings Per Share(EPS) margin rose to Rs 78.3 from Rs 65.1 in previous year.

On the other side, the capital expenditure of RIL was lowered to Rs 8,935 crore as against Rs 9,476 crore during the previous year, said sources.

In the retail sector, Reliance opened an additional 74 Reliance fresh outlets mostly in south India region, making it a total of 135 fresh stores in the country.

UNI