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Reliance Industries has appointed its chair Mukesh Ambani’s three children to its board, as Asia’s wealthiest man rolls out a choreographed succession plan to lead India’s biggest company by market valuation.
Twins Isha and Akash, 31, and Anant, 28, will join the board following shareholder approval. Their mother Nita will step down from her seat to focus on her work with Reliance’s charity.
Ambani’s careful succession planning aims to avoid a repeat of the family feuding that followed his father Dhirubhai’s death in 2002. Without a will to divide the Reliance founder’s assets, Mukesh and his brother Anil ended up in a power struggle over the business empire, before reaching a truce in 2010 that was mediated by their mother.
Ambani said he would spend his next five years as chair preparing Reliance’s “Next-Gen leaders” and mentoring his children “so that they can provide collective leadership and dependably take Reliance to greater heights”.
Companies linked to the Ambani family own 50.4 per cent of Reliance’s shares, according to stock exchange disclosures.
Akash is already chair of Reliance Jio Infocomm, the conglomerate’s digital subsidiary which includes a mobile network with 450mn subscribers, while Isha leads the retail unit, India’s largest shopping business by revenues, although she has not been elevated to chair. Anant is involved in Reliance’s energy businesses, which range from fossil fuel exploration to developing solar panel manufacturing.
The trio “have earned their stripes”, their father said.
Deepak Shenoy, founder of research and wealth management company Capitalmind and a shareholder of the polyester to 5G conglomerate, said the appointment brought certainty for investors in one of the country’s most traded stocks. “We’ve been waiting for this thing to happen . . . and when we do get clarity on exactly whose running what then it’ll be even better,” he said.
The announcements came during Reliance’s annual general meeting, an important event for investors. Analysts had expected an update on Reliance’s plans to spin out its growing retail and digital units, but Ambani did not give any fresh guidance. Shenoy said Reliance would “have to eventually demerge the businesses and figure out who’s doing what”.
The billionaire outlined plans to manufacture wind turbines as part of his fossil fuel company’s transition to renewable energy, which will include ambitious green hydrogen projects.
Despite guest appearances from Bill Gates and BlackRock chief executive Larry Fink at this year’s AGM, shares dipped 1 per cent after the two-hour virtual briefing, which one analyst described as “underwhelming”.
Ambani sketched out a vision for its newly floated shadow bank Jio Financial Services (JFS), which aims to cater to small businesses and underserved consumers using digital offerings to reach them. JFS has struck a joint venture with BlackRock, the world’s largest fund manager by assets, to provide investment services.
“India represents a tremendous opportunity,” said BlackRock’s Fink.
