Reliance Industries has appointed chairman and managing director Mukesh Ambani’s three children - Isha, Akash and Anant - to the board, an indication that they will eventually helm the oil-to-telecom conglomerate. Ambani will remain chairman for five more years while his wife, Nita, has stepped down from the board to focus on philanthropic activities.
Ambani has been laying out succession plans for several businesses under RIL in recent years. Reliance Jio Infocomm's chairman is Akash (31) while Isha (31) oversees the retail division and is on the board of Jio Financial Services, RIL's newest subsidiary. Anant (28) works with the energy division. According to RIL, their appointment as non-executive directors will become effective on the day they begin serving as directors following shareholder approval.
When RIL went public in 1977, Ambani, then 20 years old, joined the board. After his father, the company's founder Dhirubhai Ambani, passed away in July 2002, Ambani took over as CMD of RIL. After his present term expires in April 2024, the 66-year-old CMD has a term until 2029 locked in.
Jio Fin to foray into insurance biz
After announcing an entry into the asset management business with BlackRock, Jio Financial Services (JFS) is gearing up to foray into the insurance segment. JFS will partner with a global player to offer life, general and health insurance products, said Ambani at the AGM. It will use “predictive data analytics to co- create contextual products” with its partners, he added.
Financial services is Ambani’s latest consumer-focusing business bet as RIL opts for geographical concentration and sectoral diversification.