Nita Ambani, the wife of Mukesh who heads Reliance Industries, has embarked on a publicity blitz in the French capital, branding herself as the face of India’s Olympic campaign.
A member of the International Olympic Committee, she inaugurated “India House”, a hospitality hub at the Games financed by Reliance’s foundation. She has been beamed to audiences at home via television adverts and has deployed US public relations company Teneo to promote her image internationally.
Ambani’s goals in Paris include lobbying for India - which has historically underperformed at the Olympics - to host the 2036 summer games. “India has arrived,” she told a crowd at the India House opening ceremony last month. “It is time that the flame, which was first lit in Athens, lights up in our ancient land.”
The campaign is already helping the family extend its influence and position Reliance Industries as a prime beneficiary of the growth of India’s lucrative sports sector. Indian companies, from Adani Group to steelmaker JSW, have all sought to capitalise on their sponsorship of the country’s Olympians. But Reliance has in recent years amassed a vast portfolio of sports businesses in a quest to dominate the industry.
They include Indian Premier League cricket team the Mumbai Indians and a stake in India’s top-tier football league. Reliance’s media network Viacom18 holds lucrative sporting rights, including to broadcast this year’s Olympics.
Many Indians welcome corporate investment as an opportunity to improve the country’s disappointing Olympic record. With 5 bronze and a silver medals, India is behind much smaller countries such as Estonia and Uzbekistan in the all time rankings.
Reliance Foundation, which Nita chairs, has pumped money into grassroots sports and the group runs multiple athletics academies.
