According to estimates by various brokerage firms the net profit of the company in the second quarter is expected in the region of Rs 600-625 crore compared to Rs 612 crore reported in the corresponding period last year. RIL board would meet on Tuesday to announce the second quarter financial results.

The reason for the not so encouraging profit this quarter, is the rise in international oil and naphtha prices, which have gone up more than the product prices. In addition the rising interest cost and rising depreciation would also add to the company's bottomline.

"Looking at the pressure on the profitability, we are cautious on the petrochemical cycles particularly on the enthylene chain," said Mr Sanjeev Prasad, research analyst with the Kotak Securities.

However the total revenues of the company are likely to increase by 19-20 per cent and are likely to be in the region of Rs 7,000 crore during the quarter.

The rise in the topline growth is due to the rise in prices of the petrochemical products like Polyproplyene, Paraxylene and others, Dhiraj Sachdev, analyst, HDFC Bank said.

But for the first half (April-September) net profit is expected to be marginally higher around Rs 1,300 crore against Rs 1,120 crores in the corresponding quarter last year.

The share prices of Reliance Industries today closed at Rs 301.25 at the BSE (lower by 0.95 per cent). UTI Securities analyst Amit Jain said that there is a possibility of a marginal rise in the profitability at net level due to the various cost cutting measures undertaken by the company in the last few months.

He said the margins were under pressure and at the current operational level they are likely to come down from 22 per cent to around 19 per cent.