Mukesh Ambani’s third child joins Reliance, sparking buzz on succession plans of India’s rich

Anant Ambani is the director of Reliance’s new clean energy arm in what observers say is Mukesh’s bid to carve out the family business based on his children’s interests

Tycoons in India are increasingly planning to avoid power battles at a time the younger generation is more litigious than before, a lawyer says

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Anant Ambani, with parents Nita and Mukesh Ambani, pictured at the company's annual general meeting in Mumbai on July 5, 2018. Photo: AP

Published: 6:00pm, 10 Jul 2021Updated: 2:44pm, 12 Jul 2021

News that the youngest child of Asia’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani, is taking a bigger role in the family business has fuelled discussions of how the 64-year-old tycoon will eventually carve up his petrochemicals-to-telecoms conglomerate among his three Ivy League-educated children.

Anant Ambani, 26, was last week appointed as the director of two companies, Reliance New Energy Solar and Reliance New Solar Energy, that mark Reliance Industries’ US$10 billion foray into the clean energy business.

Reliance Industries, which garnered almost US$90 billion in annual revenue last year, has further plans to build solar manufacturing units and a unit to produce green hydrogen, among others.

Mukesh is not the only one moving into the renewables sector, with fellow billionaire Gautam Adani also pumping funds into a series of ventures as part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision for India to ramp up its green capacity.

With Anant’s appointment on the board of the new entities, all of Mukesh’s children now helm core business arms of Reliance Industries, which is worth some US$200 billion and employs some 195,000 workers.

The billionaire’s two elder children, 29-year-old twins Isha and Akash, have since 2014 been on the boards of Reliance Retail Ventures and Reliance Jio, which have received billions worth of investments from global giants including Facebook, Google and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.

From left: Akash, Anant, Isha, Nita and Mukesh Ambani. Photo: Reuters