Reliance Infocomm, leadership passes on to Gen Next

In the last AGM, when Mukesh Ambani called upon Akash Ambani and Isha Ambani to make the presentation on the future outlook for Jio Infocomm, it was seen as the first signal. It was a signal that the Reliance group was clearly carving out demarcated roles for their children in the future shape of Reliance. Over the last 5-6 years, the paradigm has already been that Isha Ambani has pushed most of the initiatives on the retail business while Akash Ambani has piloted most of the initiatives on the technology, digital and telecom front.

It therefore came as little as little surprise when Reliance group announced that Mukesh Ambani had resigned from the board of Reliance Jio and handed over the reins to his son Akash Ambani. Jio represents the telecom and digital properties of the Reliance conglomerate which counts digital, retail and energy as its three core business verticals. Incidentally, Reliance Industries is already the largest Indian company by sales and profits as well as by market cap, which pegs the worth of Reliance Industries at closer to $220 billion.

The board of directors of Reliance Industries has already approved the appointment of Akash Ambani as Chairman of the Board of Reliance Jio Infocomm. Akash will also be the non-executive director of Reliance Jio Infocomm. To get into a little bit of history, Akash was first inducted into the group telecom and digital business about 8 years back after he completed his education from the Brown University. He will now lead one of India’s fastest growing business lines at a young age of 31. That also ensures a much longer runway.

Apart from approving the appointment of Akash Ambani as the chairman of the board of Reliance Jio Infocomm, the board has also approved certain other appointments. For example, Pankaj Mohan Pawar was appointed the managing director of Jio for a period of 5 years, effective from June 27th, 2022. Also, Raminder Singh Gujral and K V Chowdary (a long term PSU telecom veteran) have been designated as independent directors of Reliance Jio Infocomm for a period of 5 years starting June 27th, 2022. 
 

At Reliance Jio Infocomm, Akash has been closely involved right from the launch stage in 2017. He was closely involved in the slew of acquisitions that Reliance Jio Infocomm executed over the last few years. Akash was also driving most of the equity placement deals of Reliance Jio, including the strategic ones with Facebook and Google. Over the years, Akash has sharpened his capabilities of cutting edge digital technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), Internet of Things (IOT) etc. 

However, amidst all these changes, Mukesh Ambani will continue to be the chairman of Jio Platforms. Incidentally, Jio Platforms is the flagship company owning all the Jio digital services brands, including Reliance Jio Infocomm. So, his oversight and guidance in day-to-day affairs would still be there. This effectively gives the charge of the digital business to Akash Ambani and the retail business will be driven by Isha Ambani. His youngest son Anant Ambani is yet to assigned a business, but there is still the lucrative green energy bit left.