RIL net up 24% at R5,502 cr on better refining margins

The company has been facing slipping gas output at its flagship KG-D6 field off the Andhra Pradesh coast. RIL has attributed the slide in production to reservoir complexity, natural decline and the effect of a shutdown in a field on account of maintenance for six days in the first nine months of the fiscal.

Margins at the company's petrochemicals business also improved on account of higher prices from the September quarter. EBIT margin for the latest reported period came in at 8.8%, compared with 7.9% in the second quarter.

Improved performance encouraged billionaire owner Ambani to outline expansion plans for the petrochemicals business, which had earlier been facing pricing pressures.

"We are investing over Rs 100,000 crore by expanding our petrochemical capacities and adding value to our refining business," Ambani said in a media statement.

"These investments will secure a significant change in RIL’s earning capacity on commissioning of these projects," he added.

The company last month secured financing of $2.1 billion from the US Exim Bank to fund expansion projects at Jamnagar. It also signed $ 2-billion loan with nine banks covered by Euler Hermes Deutschland last May to fund its petrochemical expansion projects.

RIL has also been looking to expand its consumer-focused segments such as telecom and retail in recent years in order to meet the target doubling its operating profit in the next four to five years.

Revenue for organised retail surged 44% to Rs 7,749 crore in the April-December period. RIL operates more than

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