MUMBAI: Reliance Industries, which runs the world’s largest single-location oil refinery with 60 million tonnes of refining capacity, has warned that the continuing geopolitical and tariff-related uncertainties could disrupt trade flows and the demand-supply balance in its oil-to-chemicals business.
The company, in the FY25 annual report released Thursday, said though it expects crude prices to remain volatile amid evolving sanctions, changing tariff regimes and output decisions by the oil cartel Opec and non-Opec members, oil demand is likely to maintain growth despite growing electric vehicle adoption as the economy is on a strong footing.
In its 2025 oil outlook, the company, which closed the year with the highest ever revenue and net income — Rs 10.71 trillion and Rs 81,309 crore respectively in FY25 — said the ramp-up of new refineries may lead to weaker product cracks.
“But expected closures can create upside potential for refining margins. Domestic fuel demand is expected to remain healthy with increasing economic activity, while domestic demand for downstream chemical products is expected to grow ahead of the GDP growth rate, driven by demand from infrastructure, packaging, automobiles and agriculture,” RIL said.
The company further said it remains on track to become net carbon zero by 2035 and is progressing rapidly to set up a 30 gwh modular battery gigafactory for cells, packs, containerised BESS (battery energy storage systems), and the backward integration into battery materials.
In his address to the shareholders, company chairman Mukesh Ambani said RIL sees the “breakneck speed with which the world is changing, reshaped by digital disruption, global shifts, and technological breakthroughs, not as a challenge but as an opportunity. We are reimagining our future and reshaping our businesses to become a new-age deep-tech enterprise.”
“From energy to entertainment, from retail to digital services, we are integrating next-generation technologies across every business vertical. Over 1,000 of our in-house scientists are leading cutting-edge research in areas like AI, renewable energy, advanced materials, and digital platforms, while our manufacturing infrastructure is being future-proofed to support the national aspiration of becoming a global manufacturing powerhouse,” Ambani said.
Ambani said even amidst extreme external volatility, Reliance delivered a year of solid and balanced growth in FY25: revenue rose 7.1% to a record Rs 10.71 trillion, from which it earned an operating profit of Rs 1.83 trillion which grew 2.9% on-year and a net income of Rs 81,309 crore, which was 2.9% more than it had earned in the previous fiscal.
