The past three years since the two Ambani brothers went their separate ways have been eventful for the Reliance Group, led by Mukesh Ambani.
The group has stabilised and grown in its core businesses of polyester, fibre intermediates, plastics, petrochemicals, petroleum refining and oil and gas exploration and production. RIL enjoys global leadership in its businesses, being the largest polyester yarn and fibre producer in the world and is among the top five to ten producers in the world in major petrochemical products.
As on Tuesday, June 17, the MDA group companies, listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange (Reliance Industries, Reliance Industrial Infrastructure, and Reliance Petroleum) had a total market capitalisation of a hefty Rs 4,23,855.14 crore.
RIL?s petrochemicals business benefited from higher production from expanded capacities, strong demand from end-use segments and better prices across the value chain.
This April, it said that its net profit for the fiscal ended March 2008 stood at Rs 19,458 crore, an increase of 63% as compared to Rs 11,943 crore in fiscal 2007. However, this included exceptional gains of Rs 4,733 crore during FY 08, made from transactions concerning shares of subsidiary Reliance Petroleum Ltd (RPL).
RIL sold 4.01% of its stake in RPL in November last year Excluding this, net profit for the fiscal increased 28% to Rs 15,261 crore in FY 08 compared to Rs 11,943 crore in FY 07. A 36% increase in revenues from the refining and marketing (R&M) segment, added to high refining margins fuelled this growth. The company registered refining margins of $15 per barrel in FY 08, compared to just $11.7 per barrel in FY07.