Mukesh Ambani, billionaire industrialist and chairman of Reliance Industries (RIL) for the first time detailed a succession plan of his extensive energy-to-telecom-to retail empire. Ambani, 65, said at RIL’s annual general meeting that “Reliance’s next-generation leaders are confidently taking over the reins across businesses. Akash and Isha have assumed leadership roles in Jio and retail respectively. They have been passionately involved in our consumer businesses since inception.
Anant has also joined our new energy business with great zeal. In fact, he is spending most of his time in Jamnagar (the company’s main refinery complex in Gujarat).” Ambani, however, asserted he is not retiring yet and “will continue to provide hands-on leadership.” Akash, his elder son, already has taken over as chairman of the telecom arm - Reliance Jio Info-comm in June this year. Roles for his two other children were not officially announced. While all three children are on the boards of the telecom, retail and new energy arms, none are on the board of Reliance.
Reliance Industries will invest £20 billion to provide 5G services across the country this Diwali in select cities and expand coverage across India by December 2023. Mukesh said “Jio 5G will be the world’s largest and most advanced 5G network. This, he said, is because it will not depend on the 4G network. Instead, it will deploy a standalone 5G version that will deliver speedier connectivity”.
RIL has yet to list new energy which spans across solar, battery and hydrogen as a separate reporting segment in its financial results. The main business of oil-to-chemicals is the biggest contributor to Reliance’s $100 billion revenues. Jio and retail too are large businesses and are reported as separate segments in the financial results.
