Reliance Industries Ltd (RELIANCE) Concall Report Analysis & Insights

Reliance Industries Ltd

| RIL Q2 2025 - 2026 Media & Analyst Call Transcript

BULLISH SENTIMENT

⬤19th Oct 25

Summary : Reliance Industries delivered strong Q2 FY26 results, driven by robust growth in Jio Platforms and Retail, while advancing New Energy and AI initiatives amidst volatile energy markets.

Management Perspective positive : Management repeatedly highlighted 'strong performance,' 'tremendous stability,' 'healthy growth,' and 'very excited' about new initiatives like AI and New Energy. They expressed confidence in scaling up operations and meeting targets.

Concall Report Analysis & Insights

Business Overview

Overall EBITDA grew 15% to over 50,000 Crores, with PAT up 14% to 22,100 Crores.
Jio Platforms achieved 506 million subscribers, with 234 million 5G users and 18% year-on-year EBITDA growth.
Reliance Retail reported 18% revenue growth, driven by fashion, lifestyle, grocery, and electronics.
Media business (JioStar) reached 400 million MAUs, showing strong entertainment viewership and digital ad sales growth.
Oil & Gas segment maintained stable EBITDA, while Refining & Marketing saw 20.9% EBITDA growth due to improved fuel cracks.

Future Growth Prospects

Jio expects continued rapid growth in new home connections, scaling up wirelessly across India.
Reliance Intelligence will develop AI capabilities and infrastructure, leveraging Jio's market access for monetization.
Reliance Retail plans aggressive expansion of quick commerce, adding more dark stores and new partnerships.
New Energy business is on track to commission solar cell gigafactories and battery energy storage systems by early next year.
Petrochemicals anticipate PVC and PET demand bounce-back post-monsoon, with ongoing large project expansions.

Management Insights

Strong performance across all businesses, with improving quality of numbers quarter after quarter.
Jio is operating as a next-gen technology company at scale, with proprietary 5G and fixed wireless stacks.
Reliance Retail's business model shows resilience, with all consumption baskets growing strongly.
JioStar aims to convert cricket audiences to entertainment content, focusing on daily engagement.
New Energy is building a unique, end-to-end integrated manufacturing ecosystem for solar and battery.

Signs of Skepticism

Management stated 'no immediate plans for tariff' changes, despite analyst questions about potential hikes.
The timeline for significant monetization of AI use cases is still vague, described as 'early days' and 'evolving over the next few quarters.'
The exact sequence and timeline for scaling up New Energy gigawatt-scale rollout will be communicated 'as we progress.'
Management did not provide a specific breakup of B2B and B2C contribution to digital commerce revenues.

Risk Factors

Natural decline in KG-D6 fields impacts upstream production, requiring augmentation efforts.
Geopolitical tensions and OPEC+ unwinding cuts contribute to crude price volatility.
Global overcapacities in petrochemicals, especially from China, constrain downstream chemical margins.
Suez Canal disruptions slightly impact ethane supply chain from the US to India.
Monetization of AI use cases in India is still in early stages and needs market evolution.

Good To Know

NCLT approval for de-merger received, awaiting written judgment for November completion.
Jio has 3400+ patent applications across 5G and 6G, positioning itself as a thought leader.
Reliance Retail added 400+ new stores and 600 operational dark stores during the quarter.
JioMart's quick commerce is available in 5000+ pin codes across 1000+ cities, with 30-minute delivery.
Reliance Intelligence, a 100% RIL subsidiary, will invest in AI capabilities and infrastructure, including a gigawatt-scale data center.

Key Drivers

5G subscriber growth continues rapidly.
New Energy projects commencing next year.
Retail quick commerce scaling up.
AI solutions development progressing.

Key Analyst Discussions

Competitive Environment

Analysts asked how Jio Platforms leverages group investments in data centers and AI for competitive advantage.
Questions were posed about whether Reliance Intelligence would deal with multiple parties beyond Jio.
An analyst asked about JioMart's differentiation from other quick commerce models and its competitive advantages.
Inquiries were made about Jio's market share in quick commerce in bigger cities versus competition.

Market Trends & Consumer Behavior

Analysts asked about the monthly run rate for connecting new homes and its potential to increase.
Questions were raised about the impact of Quick Commerce on physical retail and its growth.
An analyst asked about the average delivery time for Quick Commerce and its improvement.
Inquiries were made about consumer behavior adoption for instant deliveries.

Financial Highlights

Analysts inquired about the capex investments for Reliance Intelligence's data centers and GPUs.
Questions were raised regarding the impact of streamlining operations on retail's growth rate.
An analyst asked about the reason for the Q-o-Q jump in media business margins.
Inquiries were made about the throughput increase versus EBITDA increase in the O2C business.

Product Composition

Analysts asked about the proportion of overall petrochemical throughput from naphtha, ethane, and off-gases.
Questions were raised about the expansion of corporate packages for SMEs, including Azure and Jio-cloud stacks.
An analyst asked about the range of digital commerce contribution to total retail revenues.
Inquiries were made about the types of products offered via Quick Commerce beyond groceries.

Strategic Considerations

Analysts questioned the timeline for monetization of AI investments and their accrual to JPL.
Questions were asked about the internal consumption target for New Energy production and the net carbon zero goal.
Inquiries were made about the progress and timelines of announced PetChem expansions.
An analyst asked about the headroom for monetizing JioStar's 400 million monthly active users.