Reliance Rejig: After Akash Ambani’s Role Elevation, Isha Ambani To Lead Reliance Retail As Chairman

After Akash Ambani getting appointed as Reliance Jio’s chairman, it is now Mukesh Ambani’s daughter Isha Ambani, who will be heralding Reliance’s retail unit, Reliance Retail Ltd (RRL).

The Bloomberg report quoted sources saying that Isha Ambani, which is currently acting as a director at RRL, will be promoted as the chairman of the retail unit.

The development comes barely after a day when Reliance Industries announced Akash Ambani as a non-executive director and chairman of Reliance Jio. Additionally, Reliance Jio appointed Raminder Singh Gujral and K.V. Chowdary as independent directors for the next five years, commencing from June 27th this year. 

The recent moves are suggestive of Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani giving reins to his children to lead the high-yielding subsidiaries of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) and taking a back step.

In yesterday’s announcement, Reliance’s telecom operator also appointed Pankaj Mohan Pawar as the managing director of Reliance Jio for a period of five years, beginning from June 27 this year.

Interestingly, Isha Ambani and her twin brother, Akash Ambani were part of the teams that struck Meta Platforms’ investment deal (formerly known as Facebook) with RIL. 

In the financial year 2022, RIL posted an increased net profit of 26.2% YoY to INR 67,845 Cr. Meanwhile, its revenue surged by 47% YoY to INR 7.92 Lakh Cr in FY22. Of this, revenue from its digital services business surpassed INR 1 Lakh Cr mark, which happened for the first time in many years.

Besides, Reliance’s telecom operator is also performing well in the market. As per the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, Reliance Jio added over 1.6 Mn wireless subscribers in the month of April while its competitors–Bharti Airtel added 8.16 Lakh customers and Vodafone Idea (Vi)  lost over 1.56 Mn subscribers in the same month.

At present, Reliance’s telecom operator holds over 35% share in the Indian telecom industry followed by Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea with 31.61% and 22.68% share respectively. On the other hand, state-owned telecom operators BSNL and MTNL cumulatively account for merely  10.21% share in the telecom segment. 

Earlier in May, RIL was said to be listing Reliance Jio and RRL for IPO by the end of this year. Both the companies will be listed between $6.5 Bn and $10 Bn. 

Prior to that, Reliance Jio infused $200 Mn in Singapore-based Glance’s Series D round. As part of the deal, Glance would soon be integrating its lock screen feature into JioPhone Next smartphones.