Reliance Chairman Mukesh Ambani turns mentor for Isha, Anant and Akash Ambani to ensure family history doesn't repeat
One takeaway from yesterday's Reliance AGM is that Reliance's Chairman Mukesh Ambani has brought his famed project-execution skills to the now most-watched part of his sprawling business — passing on the Reliance empire to his three children. Rapid diversification of Reliance into different segments in the past 10 years, including the new-age tech, is obviously an effort to future-proof his business empire based on fossil fuels. But it can also be a smart plan to restructure the group into various entities which will make succession easier.
Trust Ambani to go to such lengths to plan succession.
He would certainly not like the family history to repeat. After his father and Reliance founder, Dhirubhai Ambani died intestate in 2002, he and brother Anil Ambani were locked in a bitter and long-drawn dispute over control of Reliance, which was finally settled by their mother, Kokila Ben. Mukesh got refining, petrochemicals, oil and gas and textile businesses, and Anil was made in charge of telecommunications, asset management, entertainment and power generation businesses.
Anil's business collapsed while Mukesh flourished. But how to divide his business among his three children must have been Mukesh's big worry. His diversification of Reliance over the years could actually be a long-drawn succession planning too.
Mukesh Ambani the mentor
Along with diversification and restructuring of Reliance, Ambani has turned mentoring of his children into a project too.
