India's Reliance Industries misses profit estimates

BENGALURU, July 21 (Reuters) - Reliance Industries Ltd (RELI.NS), Indias most valuable company, reported a wider-than-expected drop in first-quarter profit on Friday as its dominant oil-to-chemicals business was hurt by weak refining margins.

The Mukesh Ambani-led conglomerate said consolidated profit fell to 160.11 billion rupees ($1.95 billion) in the quarter ended June 30 from 179.55 billion rupees a year earlier.

Analysts expected the company to report a profit of 168.42 billion rupees.

They had also cautioned that the performance of the oil-to-chemicals business this quarter would be impacted by declines in gasoil and jet fuel cracks. The company stopped providing updates on gross refinery margins few quarters ago.

The profit on refining a barrel of crude oil in Asia plunged about 41% to $3.44 a barrel in April-June period due to a downturn in the petrochemicals sector.

($1 = 82.0375 Indian rupees)