Beginning of new era: Akash Ambani replaces father Mukesh as Reliance Jio chairman

By Sanjay Maurya

Reliance JioInfocomm Ltd, the digital arm of Reliance Industries, on Tuesday announced that Ambani will resign as the company‘s director effective from June 27. The company said it had appointed a non-executive director and Ambani’s son Akash Ambani as the chairman of the board. Pankaj Mohan Pawar will take over as the Managing Director of the company from 27 June.

Jio

Akash Ambani Replaces Father Mukesh As Reliance Jio Chairman — Akash Ambani replaces father Mukesh as Reliance Jio chairman | Credit Image: NDTV.com

Headquarters: Reliance Corporate Park, Ghansoli, Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Founder: Mukesh Ambani
Founded: 2007, Ahmedabad
Parent organization: Jio Platforms
Subsidiaries: LYF, Reliance Jio Infocomm Pte. Ltd

“The board of directors have at their meeting held on June 27, 2022, noted the resignation of Mr. Mukesh D Ambani as director of the company effective from close of working hours on June 27, 2022,” Jio informed the stock exchanges.

The board has also “approved the appointment of Akash M Ambani, non-executive director as chairman of the board of directors of the company“, it added.

The company added that the appointment of Raminder Singh Gujral and KV Chowdary as additional directors of the company, designated as independent directors, for a period of five years commencing from June 27, 2022, has been approved by the board. It further stated that Pankaj Mohan Pawar’sappointment as managing director of Jio had been approved. However, approval from shareholders would be needed before the decision could be made.

Revenue of Reliance Jio from financial year 2019 to 2021(in billion Indian rupees)

A successful succession plan in progress

Mukesh Ambani will continue to be the chairman of Jio Platforms Ltd, the flagship firm that owns all Jio digital services brands including Reliance JioInfocomm.Mukesh Ambani indicated last year that his children were taking on more responsibilities, but this is the first time he has officially taken a backseat.

Mukesh Ambani has spent years studying how billionaire families, from the Waltons to the Kochs, pass their wealth on to the next generation. That process has recently accelerated, with the tycoon laying out a blueprint for the next phase of his $217 billion business to avoid a succession battle that disbanded several prosperous dynasties, including his own. “Mukesh Ambani has learned from his past and does not intend to make the same error that his late father Dhirubhai Ambani did. It appears that each of his children will run a different firm, said a Mumbai-based analyst.

Akash Ambani, an alumnus of Brown University, studied economics. He married his childhood friend Shloka Mehta, who is the daughter of a diamond merchant and jeweler from Mumbai. They had a son Prithvi in 2020. Akash has a twin sister Isha and a younger brother Anant. Mukesh Ambani is the second richest Asian and 10th richest in the world with a personal net worth of $90.4 billion and derives most of his wealth from his 42% stake in RIL. RIL shares closed 1.5% higher at INR 2529 on the BSE, taking the company’s value to INR 17.1 lakh crore.