NEW DELHI: Reliance Industries Ltd., India's largest private sector company, Thursday said its net profit surged by a better than expected, ending 25 percent in the quarter September over the same period last year. The company's profit touched 10.02 billion in the July-September quarter, up from 8.01 billion in the corresponding quarter last year, on increased production at its oil refinery, said a Reliance statement issued here. Reliance, which recently completed merging with group firm Reliance Petroleum, said total sales in the second quarter rose to 162.06 billion, up from 147.12 billion logged in the July-September quarter in fiscal year 2001-02. After the merger with Reliance Petroleum, Reliance Industries is now expected to rank amongst the top 200 companies in terms of net profit and amongst the top 300 in terms of net worth, in the Fortune Global 500 rankings. Reliance runs the world's fifth-largest refinery in Gujarat. The refinery has a capacity to produce 27 million tons of petroleum products a year. "We are happy with Reliance's strong financial performance, in a period marked by a slowdown in global and domestic demand, and continued firmness in our major feedstock costs," said Anil Ambani, vice chairman of Reliance Industries Ltd. "Reliance's consistent financial performance in this challenging industry environment once again demonstrates the strength of our market leadership, and the global competitiveness of our operations," he added. For the half-yearly period ended September 30, Reliance said its net profit grew 25 percent to 19.20 billion, up from 15.36 billion logged in the April-September period in fiscal 2001-02. The company's production of oil and gas and petrochemicals increased to six million tons during the April-September period of 2002-03 against 5.74 million tons for the first half-year of 2001-02, representing a growth of four percent. Exports registered a growth of eight percent to 55.57 billion as against 51.50 billion for the corresponding period previous year, said the company statement. Reliance Industries is the country's largest private sector exploration and production player, with over 177,000 square km of awarded exploration acreage, in 26 offshore and onshore, deep and shallow water blocks, including one in Yemen. Reliance said it has received approvals for setting up over 5,800 retail outlets for marketing of transportation fuels, and work has commenced for setting up these outlets in a phased manner over the next two years. "Reliance's proposed entry into the retail marketing of transportation fuels, in this deregulated environment, will enable it to deliver quality fuels at competitive prices, achieve downstream integration and enhance overall return on capital," it added. During the April-September period, Reliance also completed the acquisition of public sector refinery major IPCL. "These are significant milestones, which will provide increased benefits of scale, integration, and financial flexibility, thereby contributing to our future growth, and to enhancement of overall shareholder value," Ambani said. _
Source: IANS