India’s Reliance beats profit estimates

Mumbai: Reliance Industries Ltd’s quarterly profit rose 18 per cent from a year earlier beating analyst estimates, bolstered by its telecommunications and retail businesses.

India’s biggest company by market value posted a consolidated net income of Rs112.6 billion ($1.58 billion) in the three months through September, against Rs95.2 billion a year ago, it said in an exchange filing. That compares with the Rs110.8-billion average of estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

Reliance Jio added over 8.445 million mobile subscribers in August, witnessing the highest monthly growth rate of nearly 2.5 per cent in comparison to other operators.

Jio’s total subscriber base now stands at 348.2 million, according to data released on Friday by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

Vodafone Idea lost 4.956 million subscribers during the month, bringing its subscriber base down to 375 million. Bharti Airtel reported 561,000 customers exiting its network, pulling down its subscriber base to 327.9 million.

Government-owned BSNL and MTNL posted 215,000 and 6,701 subscribers respectively leaving its network, TRAI data added.