Reliance beats IOC to become the biggest company

New Delhi: Richest Indian Mukesh Ambani's oil-to-telecom conglomerate Reliance Industries has toppled state-owned Indian Oil Corp (IOC) to become the country's biggest company by revenue.

Reliance in the 2018-19 fiscal year that ended March 31, reported a turnover of Rs 6.23 lakh crore.

In comparison, IOC posted a turnover of Rs 6.17 lakh crore for the fiscal, according to regulatory filings by the two companies.

It was also the most profitable company in the country with a net profit of more than double that of IOC in FY2019.

Reliance, which was about half the size of IOC till about a decade back but its bet on burgeoning consumer base and foray into new businesses such as telecom, retail, and digital services vastly expanded its business, clocked a net profit of Rs 39,588 crore in FY19.

IOC, on the other hand, ended the year with a net profit of Rs 17.274 crore.

IOC till last year was the most profitable PSU but may have lost this position to Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) in 2018-19.

ONGC is yet to declare its FY19 earnings but it had clocked a net profit of Rs 22,671 crore in the first nine months of the fiscal year.

Net profit of IOC, which depends on oil refining, petrochemicals and gas business for its revenue, had in 2018-19 declined by 23.6 per cent over Rs 22,189.45 crore net profit it had earned in 2017-18.