Driven by a strong rebound in petrochemicals business, and supported by growth in the retail segment, Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) is expected to clock a stellar sequential improvement in its net profit for the December quarter of the current financial year (Q3FY21). The firm is scheduled to report its Q3 earnings on Friday, January 22. Analysts are penciling-in up to 32 per cent sequential growth in RIL’s consolidated net profit, pegged at Rs 12,600 crore, against a profit after tax (PAT) of Rs 9,567 crore reported in the September quarter of FY21 (Q2FY21). “Sharply lower interest costs and a continued decline in the tax rate should drive around 32 per cent increase in attributable PAT on a quarterly basis. As regards the pre-tax profit, it should still be down year-on-year, given a sharply lower consolidated tax rate,” wrote analysts at JPMorgan in a result preview report. RIL’s profit before tax (PBT) and net profit in the year-ago period stood at Rs 15,082 crore and Rs 11,640 crore, respectively.