Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) reported a 5.45 per cent drop in net profits in the first quarter of the current fiscal because of lower margins from its oil to chemical (O2C) business.

RIL posted a consolidated net profit of ₹15,138 crore (attributable to the owners of the company) against ₹16,011 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year. Analysts were expecting net profits of around ₹16,000 crore.

Margins from the O2C business fell 320 basis points to 8.3 per cent over the previous year. O2C revenues showed a growth of 18.1 per cent to ₹157,133 crore from ₹133,031 crore a year ago.

But EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation & amortisation) declined 14.3 per to ₹13,093 crore from ₹15,286 crore.

EBITDA was lower on account of lower transportation fuel cracks (margins), particularly gasoline cracks which was down 30 per cent over the previous year.

Downstream chemical margins were also lower compared with the same period in the last fiscal.

Reliance’s consumer-facing business represented by digital services and retail put up a good show,

Jio Platforms Ltd (JPL) saw revenues rising nearly 13 per cent to ₹34,548 crore from ₹30,640 crore. EBITDA improved ₹14,638 crore. The EBITDA margins declined 50 basis points to 49.7 per cent.

Net profit rose 11.7 per cent to ₹5,698 crore from ₹5,101 crore. RIL said the growth in revenues was primarily driven by robust subscriber growth across mobility and homes.

Within digital services, revenues at Reliance Jio Infocomm rose to ₹26,478 crore from ₹24,042 crore, while net profit was at ₹5,445 crore against ₹4,863 crore a year ago.

The average revenue per user (ARPU) was stable at ₹181.7 per subscriber per month on a sequential basis and up 0.7 per cent over the previous year. Per capita data consumption increased to 30.3 GB per month or more than 1 GB a day.

Revenues at Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd (RRVL) gained nearly 7 per cent over the previous year period to ₹66,260 crore from ₹62,159 crore.

EBITDA margins improved by 30 basis points to 8.5 per cent. The profit after tax came in at ₹2,549 crore against ₹2,436 crore, a rise of 4.6 per cent.

For RIL, gross revenues from all the businesses showed a rise of 11.5 per cent to ₹2,57,823 crore (₹2,31,132 crore) which was in line with estimates.

The EBITDA was up 2 per cent at ₹42,748 crore.

“Reliance’s resilient operating and financial performance in this quarter underscores the strength of its diverse portfolio of businesses,’’ Mukesh Ambani, chairman and managing director of Reliance, said.

“Reliance has made significant progress on the implementation of new energy giga-factories. On completion, these projects will provide India a world-class, integrated green energy ecosystem which can propel the next leg of sustainable growth,’’ he said.

During the quarter, RIL’s net debt stood at ₹112,341 crore compared with ₹116,281 crore in the preceding three months.