Setting in place the succession plan in India’s most valuable company, Reliance Group chairman Mukesh Ambani stepped down from the board of Reliance Jio and handed over the firm’s reins to elder son Akash. Reliance Jio is valued at $217 billion and is a unit of Reliance Industries Ltd, whose business spans from oil refining and petrochemicals to retail, media and new energy.
In a stock exchange filing, Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd on Tuesday said the company’s board at a meeting on June 27, “approved the appointment of Akash M Ambani, non-executive director, as chairman of the board of directors of the company.”
This comes after his father resigned with effect from the close of working hours on June 27, it said.
Ambani, 65, has three children --- twins Akash and Isha and youngest son Anant. It is widely anticipated that he may hand over the reins of the retail business to Isha, 30, who is married to Anand Piramal (son of Piramal Group’s Ajay and Swati Piramal).
Akash and Isha have been on the boards of Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd - the company that operates supermarkets offering consumer electronics, food and grocery, fashion, jewellery, footwear, and clothing, as well as the online retail venture, JioMart - and digital arm Jio Platforms Ltd (JPL) since October 2014.
Anant, 26, has recently been inducted as a director on RRVL. He has been a director of JPL since May 2020. Among other appointments, Pankaj Mohan Pawar was appointed Managing Director of Reliance Jio Infocomm for five years beginning June 27, the filing said.
