New Delhi:

For girls to learn that they are equal to boys, they have to see that at their homes, says Nita Ambani, wife of Asia’s richest man Mukesh Ambani, on how they never differentiated among their three children who in the succession planning have got equal share of the Reliance empire.

Mukesh and Nita Ambani have three children — twins Isha and Akash, 32, and Anant, 28.

The three have recently been inducted on the board of India’s most valuable company and are being groomed to take over its three almost equal verticals.

Isha, who is married to Anand Piramal, son of Piramal Group’s Ajay and Swati Piramal, is being groomed for retail, Akash for digital/telecom and Anant for new energy business.

In an interview with CNBC International, Nita Ambani spoke about her family life, including the relationship with husband Mukesh.

“We have learnt so much from each other. Mukesh, as I say, has the floodlights in life… he thinks far ahead of his times. While I get into the meticulous details, he calls it the spotlights,” she said.

Stating that she always tells her children that the single-most important decision is choosing the right life partner, she said, “I am so blessed to have Mukesh, who’s my best friend and my life partner.” “And, you know, we’ve enjoyed the journey of life, raising our children and our grandchildren,” she said.

She says the couple still loves doing the same thing that they used to when they were young.

“So he takes me for a drive, we love listening to Hindi music, eating street food, I love my ‘bhel’ on the road and he loves his ‘dosa idli’.

“So, we still love doing what we used to love doing. So these are the values that we kind of really live every day of loving our family, respecting our elders, being honest, humble, I think not much has changed,” she said.

On children, she said Isha, who too is a mother of twins, was hands on for the launch of Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre (NMACC) — a first-of-its-kind, multi-disciplinary cultural space in the sphere of arts in Mumbai.

“And now she’s leading our retail (business),” she said.

“But I think for girls to learn that they are equal, they have to see that (at) their homes they have mentors who know that they’re not anything less than boys. I have never differentiated between Isha and Akash and Anant. Whatever my boys could do, my daughter could do too.” And this has been reflected in the succession at Reliance. Though Isha is married into Parimals, she is getting an equal share in the business as her brothers.

“Akash, Isha and Anant and a whole lot of the young generation is going to be the next leadership for Reliance and for India.

“In all three of them, I see different qualities. In Anant, my youngest, I see a compassionate young man who believes in conservation, in making the world a better place,” she said.

“Akash is leading the digital revolution through Jio. Isha is leading retail besides taking active interest in Reliance Foundation. All three of them are very, very committed to working in Reliance. They have their own strengths,” she said.

She tells her children to concentrate on their strengths and make them stronger. “Nobody’s born perfect or nobody can be perfect. And it is okay to make mistakes. You learn much more from your mistakes than you do from your successes. Be humble, Be compassionate. Treat people with respect. And I’m very happy for the new young generation that is growing at Reliance,” she added.

A Bharatnatyam dancer, Nita said the inspiration to set up NMACC came when she visited Australia for the Cricket World Cup and saw the Sydney Opera House.

“At that time, I thought, why can’t India have something like this of its own? So the idea really sparked off at that time in Australia. And it’s taken us now a decade to bring this to life.” Nita, who is a member of the International Olympics Committee, said India is absolutely ready to host the Olympics. “Just like we would love to have the Olympics in India, the Olympics also cannot ignore the 1.4 billion people of India.” She also heads Reliance Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Reliance Industries Ltd.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Asia’s richest man Mukesh Ambani took another step on Monday to lay out a succession plan at Reliance Industries Ltd.

The 66-year-old elevated his three children as non-executive directors to Reliance’s board and said he will spend the next five years of his chairmanship preparing them to take charge of the conglomerate’s transformation into a digital, consumer and green energy behemoth.

It’s all part of an effort to avoid repeating the tumultuous split that roiled the first family of corporate India. More than a decade ago Reliance’s founder, Dhirubhai Ambani, died without a will or a clear leadership transition, stirring a bitter feud between Mukesh and his younger brother, Anil. Reliance was eventually divided up following the intervention of their mother.

Three years ago, Ambani began including his children in major family businesses decisions, involving them in talks with Meta Platforms Inc. to secure a $5.7 billion investment. Formal roles have also been carved out for Isha, Akash and Anant in Reliance’s energy, retail, telecom and digital services arms.

Each child owns a $236 million direct ownership stake in Reliance, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. But it remains to be seen whether Ambani’s children can emulate their father’s success turning the oil-to-consumer titan into India’s biggest company by market value as the conglomerate increasingly attempts to reposition itself for the future.

Here’s what we know about the next generation trio:

Isha Ambani

With an MBA from Stanford University and experience working at McKinsey & Co., Ambani’s 31-year-old daughter Isha leads the conglomerate’s retail business, driving its expansion and the acquisition of brands, including the once largely defunct and nostalgia-tinged Campa Cola soda brand that was the market leader in India’s socialist era.

In 2019, Ambani credited the idea of launching Reliance Jio Infocomm to Isha, who complained about slow Internet speeds at the family’s Mumbai residence when she was home from her earlier studies at Yale University. Earlier this year, Isha was also involved in opening a swanky Mumbai theater and arts center named after her mother.

Isha is married to Anand Piramal, the son of Indian billionaire Ajay Piramal, whose interests range from pharmaceuticals to real estate. Their 2018 wedding was a spectacular tour-de-force, with performances and guests including Beyoncé, Shah Rukh Khan and Hillary Clinton. They welcomed twins to their family in November last year.

Akash Ambani

The twin-brother of Isha was elevated as chairman of Reliance Jio Infocomm in June last year, taking the helm after his father stepped down. Soft spoken Akash holds an economics bachelor degree from Brown University and has served as a director on the board of Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd. since October 2014.

Along with his mother Nita, Akash helps manage the family’s Indian Premier League cricket team, featuring in the 2019 Netflix Inc. documentary series Cricket Fever: Mumbai Indians. He married Shloka Mehta — the daughter of a wealthy diamond businessman — in another no-expenses spared A-list celebration in 2019. They have two children.

Anant Ambani

Anant, 28, like his brother has a bachelor degree from Brown University, and is closely associated with the conglomerate’s renewable energy transition. Anant has been a director on the boards of Jio Platforms since March 2020, Reliance Retail Ventures since May 2022 and Reliance New Energy Ltd and Reliance New Solar Energy Ltd since June 2021. He also serves on the board of Reliance Foundation charity.

Last year, his father said Anant had joined Reliance’s new energy business “with great zeal,” adding that “he is spending most of his time in Jamnagar,” referring to the company’s petrochemicals complex in western India. In January, Anant celebrated his engagement to Radhika Merchant at a grand event at the Ambani’s towering residential complex in one of Mumbai’s poshest districts.

–With assistance from Alexander Sazonov.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani Chairman poses with (from 2nd R to L) wife Nita Ambani, children Isha Ambani, Anant Ambani, and Akash Ambani. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

The Board of Directors of Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), at its meeting held on August 28 on the recommendation of the Human Resources, Nomination and Remuneration Committee, considered and recommended to the shareholders for approval of appointment of Isha Ambani, Akash Ambani and Anant Ambani as Non-Executive Directors of the Company. 

“Their appointment will take effect from the date they assume office after approval by the shareholders,” RIL said in a statement.

The Board of Directors also accepted the resignation of Nita Ambani 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.”

“The Board of Directors 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,” the statement said. 

“They lauded Nita Ambani’s request to focus even more on strengthening Reliance Foundation as it embarks on a mission to achieve even greater societal transformation by undertaking a host of new programmes and initiatives,” the statement added.

“As the Chairperson of Reliance Foundation, Nita Ambani will attend all the RIL Board meetings as a permanent invitee to the Board so that the Company can continue to benefit from her advice,” the statement further said.

The company said that Isha Ambani, Akash Ambani and Anant Ambani have been closely involved with and are leading and managing key businesses of RIL over the last few years including retail, digital services and energy and materials businesses. “They also serve on the boards of the key subsidiaries of RIL.“

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