Mukesh Ambani’s problem of plenty

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Editor's note: Last Friday, Reliance Industries, India’s most valuable company, announced its annual earnings, which the company said was its best ever performance yet. On a consolidated basis, which includes the oil and gas business, digital (Jio Platforms and telecom) and retail business, net profit stood at Rs 74,088 crore on a total revenue of Rs 879,468 crore for the 2022-23 fiscal year. Its EBITDA, or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, crossed Rs 150,000 crore for the first time. The company said that the good performance came from across the board. While its mainstay refining and petrochemicals margins made record profits on the back of high global oil prices, its newer, decade-old businesses—telecom and retail—have begun recording good margins, adding to the overall profitability of the company. The digital business had an EBITDA of nearly Rs 50,000 crore, and the retail business had Rs 17,900 crore for the year ended 31 March 2023. Some more financial metrics showed that the company was also in good financial health. Its consolidated net debt to EBITDA is down to 0.8 compared to a …