Reliance Industries managed to beat analysts’ predictions, and went on to secure a gigantic ₹13,233 crores in profit in its first quarter of 2020, despite the pandemic. Experts had suggested a figure that would be somewhere around ₹7500 crores, which was proven wrong, mostly due to a massive one time gain from a ₹4,966 crore deal with global oil major BP, which plans to buy 49% stake in the company’s oil business.
While the profits increased by over 31 per cent annually from ₹10,104 crore in Q1 2019, revenue took a massive dip of 44 per cent and stood at ₹91,238 crore, as “coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic globally and in India is causing significant disturbance and slowdown of economic activity,” the company stated.
While all other aspects of Reliance’s business registered some ups and downs, Jio managed to do nothing but grow, and saw its profits growing from ₹891 crore a year ago, to ₹2,520 crore by the end of June 30, almost tripling in amount. Compared to the March quarter which brought ₹2,331 crore to the company, this was an 8.1% jump. Moreover, it also managed to increase ‘Jio’s average revenue per user’, from ₹130.60 per month during the previous quarter to ₹140.30 per month this time around.
Jio, which also started its transition into a technology led platform, raised Rs 1,52,056 crore during the quarter, which played a huge part in Reliance achieving ‘debt free’ status this year. The announcement was made at the AGM meeting this year, where the company announced various measures that would facilitate Jio’s involvement in multiple sectors throughout the country, including education streaming and online retail.
During the quarter, JioMart beta version was launched in 200 cities to meet consumer needs, which has managed to gather great response. JioMeet, Reliance’s answer to Zoom, also managed to perform really well, and has managed to gain 1Million+ downloads in a short amount of time.
