Big setback for Anant Ambani: Mukesh Ambani’s son ‘too inexperienced’ for Reliance board, advisors said…

Billionaire Mukesh Ambani recently announced that all three of his children – twins Isha and Akash, and son Anant – have been appointed to the board of directors to his conglomerate firm Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), but not all board members are happy with this decision.

Two proxy advisors of Reliance have said that the shareholders of the company should reject the appointment of Mukesh Ambani’s youngest son Anant Ambani to the board of directors, creating a major setback for the business tycoon’s son.

Institutional Shareholder Services Inc., an international proxy advisory firm, recommended that the board members of Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance vote against the appointment of Anant Ambani on the board, but backed 31-year-old twins Isha and Akash Ambani on the position.

ISS wrote in an advisory note, as per Bloomberg, “A vote against this resolution is warranted as Anant Ambani’s limited leadership/board experience of around six years, raises concerns on his potential contribution to the board.”

The proxy advisors maintain that Anant Ambani is “too inexperienced” to be appointed to the RIL board at the age of 28, but backed twins Isha Ambani and Akash Ambani, who run Reliance Retail and Jio Services respectively, two of the most profitable branches of Reliance.

Mukesh Ambani, during the Reliance AGM earlier this year, stressed that his father Dhirubhai Ambani had appointed him to the board when he was just 20, and vowed to keep mentoring his three children to take on more leadership roles in the future.

Ambani, at the age of 66, is preemptively tackling his succession to avoid a rift between the three heirs to the RIL empire, a situation which arose when Dhirubhai passed away without leaving a will, splitting his business between Mukesh and Anil Ambani.

Further, Anant Ambani continues to hold a crucial position in the energy wing of RIL and is set to take on more responsibility as the non-independent, non-executive director of Reliance.

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