Ambani, 65, presented his succession plan on Monday, tell shareholders of his Reliance Industries conglomerate that his three children are “first among equals” and are “mentored daily by our senior leaders, including myself”.
“Our next generation leaders are confidently taking the reins of all businesses,” Asia’s second-richest man said at the meeting.
Reliance Industries is now worth 17.8 trillion rupees ($224 billion), based on its stock market value.
“Akash and Isha have taken on leadership roles in Jio and Retail respectively. They have been passionately involved in our consumer businesses since inception,” Ambani said. “Anant has also joined our New Energy business with great zeal.”
Reliance Retail, which was launched in 2006, is India’s largest retailer by revenue and has over 15,000 stores across the country. They sell everything from smartphones to groceries to various eponymous brands including Reliance Fresh, Reliance Digital and Reliance Trends.
The tycoon said on Monday he was not retiring yet and would “continue to provide hands-on leadership”.
Although there has been much speculation in the Indian media about who will inherit Ambani’s empire, this is the first time he has made an official statement about the roles his children will play during the transition.
bitter quarrel
Ambani’s father, Dhirubhai, died in 2002 without a will. His death sparked a bitter feud between Ambani and his younger brother, Anil, for control of the empire.
Mukesh Ambani eventually took over the company’s main oil and petrochemical assets, while his brother took control of new businesses, including telecommunications and digital businesses.
Mukesh stunned India with the launch of Jio, offering customers six months of free high-speed Internet. The move sparked a brutal price war, forcing some companies out of the market altogether, including Anil’s Reliance Communications.
On Monday, Ambani told shareholders that Jio would invest $25 billion to roll out 5G services across India.
“5G cannot remain an exclusive service, accessible only to a select few, or only those in our largest cities,” he said. “In the next two months, by Diwali, we will launch Jio 5G in several key cities, including the metropolises of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai,” he said, referring to the Hindu festival in October. .
Since its inception, Jio – with its super cheap data – has helped bring hundreds of millions of Indians online for the first time. When Ambani launched Jio, India had less than 350 million internet users. Today, it has more than 750 million.
“We are committed to making India the largest data-driven economy in the world, beating China and the United States,” Ambani said.
Regarding energy, Ambani said that “Reliance aspires to make India a world leader in the manufacture of new energies and a credible alternative to China”, and plans to invest nearly 10 billion dollars in the clean energy. manufacturing.
