Mukesh Ambani's oil-to-telecom conglomerate Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) has toppled State-owned Indian Oil Corp. (IOC) to become the country’s biggest company by revenue.
Reliance, in the 2018-19 fiscal year that ended March 31, reported a turnover of Rs.6.23 lakh crore. With this milestone, Reliance has achieved the number one position in terms of all three parameters - revenue, profit, and market capitalisation. RIL closed up 1.08% at Rs.1,339.75 on the BSE, with a market capitalisation of Rs.8.50 lakh crore.
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IOC, ONGC, and RIL:
In comparison, IOC posted a turnover of Rs.6.17 lakh crore for the fiscal. It was also the most profitable company in the country with a net profit of more than double that of IOC in FY2019.
IOC till 2018 was the most profitable PSU but may have lost this position to Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) in 2018-19.
ONGC is yet to declare its FY19 earnings but it had clocked a net profit of Rs.22,671 crore in the first nine months of the fiscal year. Net profit of IOC, which depends on oil refining, petrochemicals, and gas business for its revenue, had in 2018-19 declined by 23.6% over Rs.22,189.45 crore net profit it had earned in 2017-18.
Reliance, on the other hand, posted a 13% rise in profits over Rs.34,988 crore recorded in 2017-18. ONGC had a net profit of Rs.19,945.26 crore in 2017-18 fiscal, lagging behind IOC.
RIL's profitable business:
Reliance Jio Infocomm (RJio) and Reliance Retail have been bringing in more revenues than petrochemicals and polymer have. RIL had expanded capacity in polymer and petrochemicals, the larger growth in revenue from retail and telecom suggests that the company is growing faster in the consumer-facing business, rather than in the core businesses.
Reliance which has the highest cash reserves of Rs.1.33 lakh crore on the book also has the highest gross debt of Rs 2.87 lakh crore at the end of March 2019.
