Amid a soft quarter for the oil-to-chemical (O2C) segment, Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) is forecast to report flat to modest growth in net profits for the quarter ended December 31, 2023. The private sector giant will report its numbers on Friday.

RIL had posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 15,792 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2022.

Brokerages estimate that while its O2C business could display a muted performance, it could be cushioned by the digital and retail businesses.

Analysts at Kotak Institutional Equities estimate that RIL will post a three per cent rise in net profits for the December quarter at around Rs 16,218 crore.

However, on a sequential basis it would mark a decline from Rs 17,394 crore.

``We expect third quarter to be weak for oil & gas names, with quarter-on-quarter (qoq) EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation & amortisation) decline for most names. For RIL, the O2C segment will be weak and will only be partly offset by retail/Reliance Jio,’’ the brokerage said.

According to Jefferies, RIL is likely to report a 3 per cent sequential decline in EBITDA on weaker O2C though its consumer facing business would show steady growth.
The brokerage added that during the quarter, Singapore gross refining margins (GRM) fell sharply to $5.5 per barrel from $9.5 per barrel whereas petchem also showed weakness with margins declining.

On the telecom front, Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd and Bharti Airtel are forecast to report steady performance amid 5G rollout.

Analysts at IIFL Securities expect Jio to post around 11 per cent rise in revenues at Rs 25,478 crore compared with Rs 22,998 crore in the year-ago period.

Its average revenue per user (ARPU) is expected to be stable on a sequential basis at Rs 183 per subscriber.

Shares of RIL on Tuesday ended with losses of 1.43 per cent or Rs 39.85 at Rs 2,747.65 on the BSE.