RIL's just announced Q1 results showed that the company has increased its exports during April-June period to Rs 7,144 crore (Rs 71.44 billion) from Rs 5,102 crore (Rs 51.02 billion) in the corresponding period last year, showing a growth of 40 per cent.
Out of the company's total income of Rs 19,884 crore (Rs 198.84 billion) in Q1, the export figure also accounted for almost eight per cent of India's total export of Rs 91,126 crore (Rs 911.26 billion) during the period.
During 2004-05, RIL exports stood at Rs 25,532 crore (Rs 255.32 billion) out of the country's total export of Rs 3,56,068 crore (Rs 3560.68 billion).
The RIL performance, which according to the expansion plans announced by Mukesh at the company's AGM would double the capacity of its Jamnagar refinery, was highly creditable in view of the fact that India did not enjoy the comparative advantage of cheap crude and gas as enjoyed by some other regions like the Middle east.
The company has been mainly importing crude oil for its 33 million tonne PA capacity Jamnagar refinery and exported value-added refinery products to more than 30 countries, a RIL source said.
This only showed India's export competitiveness in the refinery and petrochemicals sector vis-à-vis other regions and established the fact that Indian petroleum and petrochemicals companies could compete in the world.
Mukesh Ambani's growth plan also included Rs 17,600 crore (Rs 176 billion) investment in 4-5 years for upstream oil and gas exploration and production to reduce the company's dependence on imported crude and increase its competitiveness in the international market.
RIL's export performance would obviously give a fillip to the idea being toyed by the government of framing policy for export-oriented refineries and creating a special economic zone scheme in the sector.
Incidentally, the former public sector company, IPCL, which has been taken over by RIL in 2002 through a competitive bidding process, has also shown a positive export performance during the period under review, the company source said.
Out of the total exports during the first quarter of the current year 72 per cent was accounted for by refinery products and the balance 28 per cent by petrochemicals, the source said.
IPCL boosted exports by 79 per cent to Rs 366 crore (Rs 3.66 billion) in Q1 from Rs 205 crore (Rs 2.05 billion) during the corresponding period last year.
The IPCL's export boost actually started in 2004-05 when it recorded total export worth Rs 1,608 crore (Rs 16.08 billion) as against Rs 644 crore (Rs 6.44 billion) during 2003-04.
© 2026