Reliance Industries retail Q1 pre-tax profit jumps 66%

The organised retail business of Reliance Industries (RIL) posted Rs 398-crore profit before depreciation, interest and taxes (PBDIT) at Rs 398 crore in the quarter ended June, a 66 per cent annual jump at the back of record sales growth of 73.6 per cent to Rs 11,571 crore in the period. 

The company said the increase in revenue was led by growth across all consumption baskets. The company included its fuel retail outlet to retail operations in the June quarter last year and numbers are comparable year to year. Reliance Retail recommissioned 17 petro retail outlets during the quarter and now operates 465 outlets.  "Consumer electronics basket comprising of Reliance Digital, Jio stores, device distribution and connectivity services delivered strong growth," RIL said.

It has about 2,000 Reliance Digital and Jio stores in 700 cities. Reliance Retail's device distribution business sold 1.5 million LYF devices and accessories during the quarter.

Reliance Retail operates the largest cash-and-carry chain in the country through Reliance Market with 41 operational stores. "Reliance Market continues to focus on innovation and planning, better assortment and channel development. These initiatives have resulted in strong growth in Kirana and hotels, restaurants, cafe customer segments," RIL said.

Overall, Reliance Retail added 18 stores during 1Q FY18 and operated 3,634 stores across 703 cities with an area of over 13.8 million sq ft as on June 30, 2017. It added 0.3 million sq ft during the first quarter of FY18.

As part of Reliance Retail 2.0 initiatives, various omni channel initiatives were expanded to offer differentiated experience to the customers, RIL said.