Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani has hinted at a transition in leadership at his energy-to-retail conglomerate, saying he wants the process to be accelerated with seniors, including him, yielding to the younger generation.
Mr Ambani, 64, who has previously not spoken about succession plans at India’s most valuable company, said Reliance is ‘now in the process of effecting a momentous leadership transition.’
Ambani has three children – twins Akash and Isha, and Anant, who are already handling major aspects of the business in key leadership roles.
At the Reliance Family Day, which marked the birth anniversary of the group’s founder Dhirubhai Ambani, Mukesh Ambani spoke about the future of the conglomerate.
‘Achieving big dreams and impossible-looking goals is all about getting the right people and the right leadership. Reliance is now in the process of effecting a momentous leadership transition… from seniors belonging to my generation to the next generation of young leaders,’ he said.
The company did not immediately respond to an e-mail seeking comments on Mr. Ambani’s remarks about succession.
‘All seniors – myself included - should now yield to the highly competent, extremely committed, and incredibly promising young leadership talent at Reliance,’ Mr Ambani said.
‘We should guide them, enable them, encourage them and empower them… and sit back and applaud as they perform better than us.’
He did not elaborate as to whether there was any succession plan in place.
Reliance now has three verticals – the legacy energy business comprising of oil refineries at Jamnagar in Gujarat, petrochemicals plants and new energy factories, Reliance Retail, made up of physical stores and online e-commerce unit in JioMart, and the telecom and digital powerhouse that is Reliance Jio.
Ambani said an organisational culture must be built at Reliance that outlasts its leaders. ‘I have no doubt that Akash, Isha and Anant as the next-gen leaders will lead Reliance to even greater heights.’
‘Let us all wish them good luck in their mission to make Reliance ever more successful with even more transformative initiatives and achieving even greater accolades for our Reliance,’ Ambani added.
Mr. Ambani also spoke about the uncertainty over the spread of the new COVID variants and advised people to maintain caution.
Mr Ambani said despite the pandemic, Reliance has completely re-engineered its energy business with a focus on clean energy.