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Mumbai, July 24 Reliance Industries’ net profit for the first quarter rose 13 per cent on higher revenues and strong margins from refining, its largest business.

Although the results were better-than-expected considering the adverse business conditions during the quarter, the company has not reported such a low bottomline growth for several quarters now.

The company’s gross refining margin for the period was $ 15.7 a barrel, up from $ 15.4 a year ago.

The refining segment, which accounts for two thirds of the company’s revenues, reported a 19-per cent increase in earnings before interest and tax, and a 46 per cent increase in revenues.

Product prices in this segment rose 41 per cent, (driven by high crude prices) and volumes 5 per cent, said the company.

Turnover for RIL as a whole rose 38 per cent – 36 per cent due to price increases and 2 per cent due to volume increases.

The performance was “despite challenging business environment, including domestic inflation and weakening of the leading economies of the world,” said the Chairman, Mr Mukesh Ambani, in a statement.

Input costs were high; consumption of raw materials rose 75 per cent during the quarter.

The company has reported an amount of Rs 2,607 crore under the item ‘increase in stock in trade/work in progress’, against a decrease of Rs 878 crore the previous corresponding quarter. Even with this taken into account, total expenditure rose around 50 per cent.

The Jamnagar refinery processed 8.13 mt of crude, its utilisation rate at 98.5 per cent, said the company. Exports more than doubled, to Rs 6,347 crore.

There was an impact of Rs 280 crore due to foreign exchange fluctuations.

RIL’s petrochemicals business, however, showed a decrease in ‘earnings before interest and tax’ which slumped to Rs 1,579 crore, from Rs 1,845 crore.

EBIT from the oil and gas business rose 74 per cent, to Rs. 503 crore. Production of gas and condensate from the Tapti block approximately doubled while a shutdown at Panna-Mukta led to a dip in production by about a third.

In the same year-ago quarter IPCL had not been amalgamated with the RIL, and the results reflect this, in that the net profit increase is not as high as in earlier quarters, said a spokesperson.

RIL said that its net profit would have been lower by Rs 940 crore had it followed Accounting Standard 11 with respect to adjusting foreign currency exchange differences on amounts borrowed for acquisition of fixed assets.

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