MUMBAI: India’s Reliance Industries appointed the three children of chairman Mukesh Ambani – Isha, Akash and Anant – as board directors at the oil-to-telecoms conglomerate, as the billionaire prepares to eventually hand over the reins.
Ambani, Asia’s richest person, in recent years, has said the children would have significant roles at Reliance, India’s biggest conglomerate, which is valued at around $200 billion. His eldest son Akash is already chairman of the telecom unit.
Here are some key details about the three:
Akash Ambani, 31
Eldest son Akash has been chairman of Reliance’s telecoms unit, Jio Infocomm, since June 2022 after joining the unit in 2014.
An economics graduate from Brown University, he was part of a team that brokered a $5.7 billion investment in 2020 by Meta Platforms in digital unit Jio Platforms. He also helped broker deals with global investors such as KKR and TPG.
In 2019, Akash married Shloka Mehta, the daughter of a wealthy diamond merchant. They have a son and a daughter.
Isha Ambani, 31
Akash’s twin sister Isha drives the company’s retail, e-commerce, and luxury businesses. Reliance says its retail unit is India’s largest retailer by revenue and profits.
She was also involved in the launch of the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre, a Broadway-style theater and arts centre launched in Mumbai earlier this year.
She has a management degree from Stanford and a double major in Psychology and South Asian Studies from Yale.
Anant Ambani, 28
Ambani’s youngest son Anant has been a director on the board of Jio Platforms since March 2020, Reliance Retail since May 2022 and the group’s new energy and solar energy businesses since June 2021.
A graduate of Brown University, Anant oversees the group’s new energy businesses, where Reliance aims to become a net-zero carbon company by 2035. Anant has also been on the board of Reliance Foundation, the group’s philanthropic arm, since September 2022.
