RIL succession plan: Nita Ambani steps down, Isha, Akash & Anant to join Reliance board

Their appointment to the board of RIL, India’s most valued company with a market capitalisation of Rs 16.52 lakh crore, paves the way for more key roles for them in the group.

“I shall groom and empower all the Next-Gen leaders at Reliance and prepare them for the challenges and opportunities of the future. I shall especially mentor Akash, Isha and Anant so that they can provide collective leadership and dependably take Reliance to greater heights of growth and value in the decades ahead,” Ambani said at the Annual General Meeting of RIL on Monday.

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“I shall continue to perform my duties and responsibilities as Chairman and Managing Director for five more years, with greater vigour,” he said.

“This is truly an emotional moment for me because it reminds of that day in 1977, when my father inducted me into the board of directors of Reliance. I was only 20 then. Today, I see both my father and me in Isha, Akash and Anant. I see the flame of Dhirubhai shine in all of them. They have fully internalised the founder’s mindset,” he said.

Isha, Akash and Anant have been leading and managing key businesses of RIL over the last few years, including retail, digital services, energy and materials businesses. They also serve on the boards of RIL’s key subsidiaries.

Ambani said his three children had immersed themselves in every aspect of Reliance over the past few years. “They have been working with our senior leaders in some of the most exciting projects in consumer businesses, digital enterprises, O2C, and green energy and green materials,” he said.

“The board of directors of RIL, at its meeting held on Monday, considered and recommended to the shareholders for approval the appointment of Isha, Akash and Anant as non-executive directors on the recommendation of the Human Resources, Nomination and Remuneration Committee,” RIL said in a statement. Their appointment will take effect from the date they assume office after approval by the shareholders, it said.

“Their appointment to the board of RIL will enable RIL to gain from their insights and infuse new ideas,” RIL said.

The board also accepted Nita Ambani’s resignation from the board, “respecting her decision to devote her energies and time to guide and enable Reliance Foundation (RF) to make even greater impact for India”. As the chairperson of RF, she will attend all the RIL board meetings as a permanent invitee.

RIL said the board “appreciated Nita Ambani for her leadership of Reliance Foundation as its founder chairperson”. Over the years, RF has made considerable progress in its mission of nurturing and empowering marginalised and under-resourced communities in India, it said.

On RIL’s future plans, Ambani said: “Our first priority is to deliver a fully-integrated, end-to-end solar PV manufacturing ecosystem. This will be one of the largest, most technologically advanced, flexible, and most cost-competitive solar giga factory globally, and will be converting sand into Solar PV modules.”

“Our concurrent priority is to set up our battery giga factory by 2026. It will manufacture battery chemicals, cells and packs, leading all the way up to containerised energy storage solutions, and will include a battery recycling facility to deliver a truly integrated ecosystem,” he said.

Ambani said the company was committed to creating up to 2000 MW of AI-ready computing capacity, across both Cloud and Edge locations. “And we will do this while adopting sustainable practices and a greener future. Over the next five years, we plan to shift most of our energy footprint in connectivity and digital services to green energy, which is not just eco-friendly but also lower cost,” he said.

“Seven years ago, Jio promised broadband connectivity to everyone, everywhere. We have delivered. Today, Jio promises AI to everyone, everywhere,” he said.