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Reliance Industries Ltd’s (RIL’s) retail subsidiary Reliance Retail on Friday (July 22) said that its digital and new commerce operations grew more than 2X during April-June quarter as compared to the year-ago quarter.

Besides, the digital and new commerce operations contributed about 19% of Reliance Retail’s gross revenue during the quarter. RIL, which declared its June quarter results on Friday, reported a 40.8% year-on-year rise in its consolidated net profit at INR 19,443 Cr.

In the first disruption-free quarter since the onset of COVID-19 pandemic, Reliance Retail’s consolidated net profit more than doubled to INR 2,061 Cr from the corresponding quarter of previous year.

Reliance Retail’s gross revenue registered a rise of 51.9% to INR 58,554 Cr, while earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose 97.8% to INR 3,837 Cr.

“In retail business, we continue to focus on enhancing our consumer touch-points and building a stronger value proposition for our customers. Our strong supply chain infrastructure and sourcing efficiency is helping us maintain competitive pricing for daily essentials,…”, RIL CMD Mukesh Ambani said.

The retail arm recorded a footfall of 175 Mn during the quarter – 19% more than pre-Covid levels. In addition, both digital and physical visits translated to 220 Mn transactions for Reliance Retail in Q1 FY23. The total customer base of the company’s retail arm grew 29% YoY to 208 Mn at the end of the first quarter of FY23.

The Digital Commerce Boom

The digital commerce business continued to grow, registering a 64% YoY growth in daily orders. 

“New commerce operations sustains growth momentum as it continues to onboard merchants across new geographies and consumption baskets with its attractive value propositions as merchant base scales up 3x over last year. All operating metrics grew exponentially over last year reflecting growing trust of the merchant partners,” the company said in a statement.

The company said that its ecommerce platform JioMart Digital registered a three-fold growth in revenue during Q1 from the preceding March quarter. It attributed the growth in JioMart Kirana orders to increased merchant penetration, which has grown by four-times in the last one year. 

JioMart currently has a presence in 268 cities, with plans to expand footprint and increase product offerings. 

The company also said that it doubled its daily subscription orders through Milkbasket over the last year, adding that it is ready to roll out the service to new geographies. RIL said that its grocery business recorded highest-ever revenue and registered a 2X YoY growth in its business led by growth across all categories. 

The positive trend continued in the pharmaceuticals business as well as it nearly doubled in size in Q1 FY23 from the same period last year. The company owns a majority stake in epharmacy Netmeds. 

Reliance Retail said that close to 80% of the pharmacy network is now hyperlocal-enabled to streamline deliveries to end customers. Besides, the pharmacy business increased its merchant base by 50% in Q1 FY23 versus Q4 FY22. The pharmacy arm currently has a presence in more than 2,400 towns. 

Meanwhile, RIL’s telecom arm Reliance Jio reported a 24.1% YoY rise in its net profit to INR 4,530 Cr in the first quarter of FY23, led largely by strong customer additions and a higher average revenue per user (ARPU).

Its ARPU stood at INR 175.7 per month in Q1 FY23, rising 27% YoY and 4.8% from INR 167.6 in the preceding quarter.