Anil Ambani, the chairman of Reliance Group, has had to resign from the post of director of Reliance Power and Reliance Infra. SEBI had given an order banning him from associating with any listed company. SEBI had held him guilty of misappropriation of funds. But how did this happen for Anil Ambani. After all, like Mukesh Ambani, Dhirubhai Ambani had inherited the legacy? Continuous failure in business and quarrel with family all together pushed Anil Ambani's star into the dark. The story of the sinking of Anil Ambani's empire is a chapter of advice for the corporate world.
Reliance Group of Companies includes Reliance Communications, Reliance Capital, Reliance Infra, Reliance Power, Reliance Defense and Engineering and Reliance Defense Technology.
Anil Ambani was a marathon sprinter in his mid-40s, a very confident personality. During his father Dhirubhai Ambani's stay in the corporate world, he was loved by everyone for his extrovert personality. When father Dhirubhai Ambani died in the year 2002, he took over the legacy along with Mukesh Ambani. Then Mukesh, the eldest son, who had a degree in chemical engineering from a college in Mumbai and an MBA from Stanford, became the chairman of RIL.
Younger son Anil who was MBA from Wharton became MD. Mukesh started handling the entire business of petrochemical and Anil Ambani's coin started running in the textile. Then everyone understood that both the brothers would carry forward the father's legacy together, but soon the Mahabharata broke out between the brothers.
By the year 2005, some reports started coming in the media that everything was not going well between the brothers. Without mentioning anyone's name, the news of split in the family kept increasing. Eventually, on the initiative of mother Kokila Ben, in the year 2005, the two brothers reconciled. The agreement was that New Age Business Telecom, which was shining like a pole star in the Indian business world then, would keep Anil. Anil went to R COM, R POWER, R CAPITAL and R INFRA, while Mukesh Ambani came to Oil and Gas, Petrochemical, Refinery and Manufacturing. Mukesh Ambani's net worth was US$4.9 billion at that time, while Anil had US$4.5 billion. Both the brothers signed an agreement not to have any kind of business competition with each other for 5 years in future.
Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group – R-ADAG chairman Anil Ambani's glow was made in those days. He used to dominate the media all around. But Mukesh always stayed away from the glare of the media. Often the media would narrate the photos of Anil involved in a marathon running in Mumbai-Delhi and stories of his business growth. Anil Ambani loved giving information about his product to the media by holding a press conference. There were reports of proximity to megastar Amitabh Bachchan and Samajwadi Party Amar Singh. He also married film star Tina Munim. When he became the chairman of his company, the R-ADAG Group partnered with Steven Spielberg in the film business as well. Later he became the largest multiplex chain owner by buying Adlabs.
Even Anil Ambani's company was doing well. But without properly calculating the risk, Anil kept on expanding. Then there was the era of cheap loans and many big business houses of the country were bullish on power and infra. Where was Anil, who focused on the New Age business, was also going to be behind. So he also stepped forward. In 2008, Reliance Power raised a record Rs 11563 crore from an IPO. Then in 2008 itself, Anil was at number six in the world in the list of rich people of FORBES.
Troubles on Anil's empire increased when 2G spectrum happened. The way A Raja distributed the spectrum also increased Anil's troubles. On the other hand, the gas that Anil was to get from the KG basin i.e. Mukesh Ambani for Dadri Power Plant was not found. Anil Ambani dragged the matter to court. Later, by the decision of the Supreme Court, Mukesh agreed to give gas, but the clause between the two brothers not to compete was over.
In the year 2010, as soon as the clause between the two brothers of not competing among themselves ended, Mukesh Ambani entered Telecom and RCOM, which till now had an umbrella rule, started its bad days. The entry of JIO in the year 2016 with Superior 4G technology set RCOM in the lurch. After falling behind in telecom and loss in investment, Anil was badly caught in a debt trap. In the end, the situation came to sell our assets one by one. RCom tried to pay off the debt by selling many precious capitals. In December 2017, a deal worth Rs 23,000 crore was also signed with Reliance Jio. but it didn't work out
Then this deal ended. Since then, Anil Ambani's star has sunk so much that he is not able to recover from it. One by one they have had to sell companies. Anil Ambani is being shown the way out of his own companies. Now he also had to resign from Reliance Power and Reliance Infra. Piramal Capital and Housing Finance have already dragged him to the NCLAT for non-payment of a loan of Rs 526 crore. In such a situation, will Anil Ambani ever be able to come back? By the way, Anil has also been a fighter .. he needs a big deal which can get him out of this trouble.