Reliance Retail earnings fell 24.3% from a year earlier in the September 2026 quarter, even as gross revenue increased. The retailer attributed pressure on profitability to digital commerce investment, higher costs and a shift in the festive calendar.

Key Takeaways

  • Profit after tax fell to ₹2,611 crore, while gross revenue rose 6.4% to ₹91,716 crore.
  • The operating EBITDA margin narrowed to 7.3% from 8.7% a year earlier.
  • Online grocery revenue grew 42% as the company continued investing in digital commerce.

Reliance Retail earnings and margins

Results reported on October 30 cover the second quarter of fiscal 2027. Profit after tax declined from ₹3,451 crore in the year-earlier quarter and from ₹2,805 crore in the preceding June quarter.

Gross revenue increased from ₹86,169 crore a year earlier. Reliance Retail said growth was 6.4% after adjusting for the demerger of its Consumer Brands business.

Operating earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization, or EBITDA, fell 11.1% to ₹5,886 crore from ₹6,624 crore. The operating EBITDA margin narrowed to 7.3% from 8.7%.

Investment and costs weigh on profit

The company said profitability was affected by planned digital commerce investment, input-cost inflation and the movement of the festive season into the December quarter. Depreciation also rose as the asset base expanded, while finance costs increased with higher borrowings and interest rates.

The quarter included a ₹108 crore impairment charge related to 7-Eleven. EBITDA after that charge was ₹6,120 crore, down 10.2% from ₹6,810 crore a year earlier.

Digital commerce and store expansion

Grocery business-to-consumer online revenue increased 42% year over year. JioMart’s network expanded to more than 5,000 stores across over 1,000 cities. Reliance’s annual report describes JioMart’s multi-category platform and its hyper-local fulfilment model.

Reliance Retail opened 303 stores during the quarter, bringing its total to 19,947 across more than 7,000 towns. Its registered customer base exceeded 400 million, up 10% year over year, and transactions rose 7%.

The company said its fiscal 2027 strategy is to build online scale with financial discipline, funded by profits from its store business. It plans to focus on converting that scale into value in fiscal 2028 and 2029.

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