The country’s most valuable company — Reliance Industries — on Friday reported that its net profit rose 13 per cent to Rs 13,101 crore in quarter ended December 2020 from Rs 11,640 crore during the corresponding period a year ago. The Mukesh Ambani-led company’s profit was better than anticipated as analysts polled by Refinitiv expected the company to report profit of Rs 11,009 crore.

Its revenue from operations however, declined 21 per cent to Rs 1.24 lakh crore.

The oil-to-telecom giant posted its highest ever quarterly profit as total expenses fell sharply during the quarter. Total expenses declined 22 per cent annually to Rs 1.13 lakh crore from Rs 1.45 lakh crore in the year-ago period.

Its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) — or operating profit — increased 12 per cent to Rs 26,094 crore in the three months to December 31, compared to the previous quarter.

Reliance, which operates the world’s largest refining complex, said revenue from the oil-to-chemicals division fell nearly 30 per cent in the quarter from a year earlier. The business houses Reliance’s oil refining and petrochemicals operations.

Reliance Industries’ digital arm Jio Platforms’ net profit rose rose 15.5 per cent to Rs 3,489 crore and revenue advanced 5.3 per cent to Rs 22,858 crore.

Its average revenue per user, key metric of profitability of telecom company improved to Rs 151 per subscriber per month from Rs 145 per subscriber per month in the previous quarter, Reliance Industries said.

Its retail business Reliance Retail’s profit rose 88 per cent to Rs 1,830 crore and revenue jumped 8 per cent to Rs 37,845 crore.

Commenting on results Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director of Reliance Industries in a statement said: “At a time when the Indian economy is poised for a confident recovery, we at Reliance are humbled that we have been able to contribute to it with our Company’s impressive performance in the third quarter of FY21. We have delivered strong operational results during the quarter with a robust revival in O2C and Retail segments, and a steady growth in our Digital Services business. I am proud that Reliance has employed 50,000 more people since March 2020.”

Reliance Industries shares ended 2.3 per cent lower at Rs 2,050, underperforming the Sensex which closed 1.5 per cent lower.