Mukesh Ambani resigns from Reliance Jio, Akash Ambani named chairman

The digital arm of Reliance Industries, Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd, on Tuesday announced that Ambani would resign as the director of the company effective from 27 June.

In a regulatory filing, Reliance Jio said the company's board at a meeting on 27 June, "approved the appointment of Akash M Ambani, non-executive director, as chairman of the board of directors of the company."

Among other appointments, Pankaj Mohan Pawar will take over as the Managing Director of the company from 27 June.

Raminder Singh Gujral and KV Chowdary were appointed independent directors.

In 2021, Ambani said that his kids were taking more responsibilities as part of the leadership shift. He said he could see in his children the same spark and potential of his father Dhirubhai Ambani – Reliance’s founder – for contributing to the country's growth.

Few things to know about Akash Ambani

- Akash Ambani, who has graduated from Brown University with a major in Economics, has been closely involved with the disruptive and inclusive growth path charted by the digital services and consumer retail propositions of Reliance group and is now leading the creation of the ‘convergence dividend’ for over 500 million consumers.

- Akash has been closely involved with the creation of the digital ecosystem around Jio’s 4G proposition. He was closely involved with a team of engineers in inventing and launching an India-specs focussed Jiophone in 2017 which became quite a revolutionary device to take many people out of 2G to 4G.

- He personally led the key acquisitions made by Jio in the digital space in the last few years and has also been keenly involved with development of new technologies and capabilities including AI-ML and blockchain.

- Akash was integrally involved in the trailblazing global investments by tech majors and investors in 2020, which in many ways catapulted Jio onto the global investor map.

The Board of Directors have at their meeting held on 27 June, 2022:

(a) approved the appointment of Raminder Singh Gujral and KV Chowdary, as Additional Directors of the Company, designated as Independent Directors for a period of 5 (five) years commencing from 27 June, 2022, subject to approval of the shareholders

(b) approved the appointment of Pankaj Mohan Pawar as Managing Director of the Company for a period of five (5) years commencing from 27 June, 2022, subject to approval of the shareholders

(c) noted the resignation of Mukesh D Ambani as Director of the Company effective from close of working hours on 27 June, 2022

(d) approved the appointment of Akash M Ambani, Non-executive Director as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Company.

"In accordance with the circular dated June 20, 2018, issued by the Stock Exchanges, we hereby confirm that Raminder Singh Gujral and KV Chowdary are not debarred from holding the office of Director by virtue of any Securities and Exchange Board of India order or any other such authority," the company added.

Established in 2019, Jio Platforms, wholly-owned by RIL, is an Indian technology company.

Shares of Reliance Industries closed at 2,529.00 apieace on BSE, 1.49% higher than yesterday's close. At the NSE, it climbed by 1.50% to settle at ₹2530.00 apiece.