No salary for Mukesh Ambani’s children, only fee for attending board meets, says RIL resolution

The three children of billionaire Mukesh Ambani – Akash, Isha and Anant – would not be issued a salary by Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), but they would be eligible for a fee to be paid for attending the board and committee meetings, stated a resolution issued by the company.

The resolution was moved to seek nod from the shareholders for their appointment to the company's board. The plan to nominate the trio, considered as the next-generation leaders of the oil-to-telecom conglomerate, as members of the board was announced at RIL's annual general meeting held last month.

Reliance has now sent out a postal ballot to shareholders seeking a nod for their appointment as board of directors of the company.

"They shall be paid remuneration by way of fee for attending meetings of the Board or Committees thereof or for any other meetings as may be decided by the Board, reimbursement of expenses for participating in the Board and other meetings and profit-related commission," the notice said.

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Ambani, the chairman and managing director of RIL, drew nil salary from the company since the 2020-21 fiscal year, whereas, other executive directors including his cousins Nikhil and Hital are paid a salary, perquisites, allowances and commission.

His three children - twins Akash and Isha (both 31) and Anant (28 years) - will get only a sitting fee and a commission on the profit earned by the firm, according to the resolution.

The terms of the appointment of the three are the same as the ones on which Ambani's wife Nita was appointed to the company board in 2014. She earned a sitting fee of ₹6 lakh and a commission of ₹2 crore in the 2022-23 fiscal year (April 2022 to March 2023), according to the company's latest annual report.

Ambani, 66, had at the company's annual shareholders meeting last month announced that his three children Akash, Isha and Anant would be inducted into Reliance's board of directors (BoD).

Ambani first talked of a succession plan at the RIL in 2022, where he announced that each of his three children would head various divisions of the company (Akash to head telecom, Isha to head retail, and Anant to head new energy).

He did not divulge the succession plan for Reliance's mainstay oil-to-chemicals or O2C business division.

Reliance shareholders at the AGM last month gave a nod to Ambani getting another five-year term till 2029 as the head of India's most valuable company. 

As part of the succession planning, Nita resigned as a director of Reliance but she has been made a permanent invitee to all board meetings.

Among Ambani's children, Isha, 31, is a graduate of Yale University with a double major in Psychology and South Asia Studies and an MBA from Stanford University,  and "is driving the expansion of Reliance Retail into new categories, geographies and formats," the shareholder notice said.

"She has been instrumental in the expansion of Reliance Retail's own brand portfolio including the acquisition of some exciting Indian brands and launch of the 'Independence' brand," it added.

Isha directly holds 0.12 per cent equity shares of the company.

Ambani owns 41.46 per cent of Reliance shares.

Akash, an economics graduate of Brown University, US, heads India's biggest telecom company Jio. "At Jio, he spearheads the creation of products and services that leverage new-age technologies like 5G, Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain and the Internet of Things," it said.

Anant, also a graduate of Brown University, "is driving the expansion of energy and materials businesses of Reliance and its global operations in renewable and green energy."

"Under his leadership, Reliance aims to become a Net Carbon Zero company by 2035 by building world-scale capabilities in the production of clean fuels and materials of the future, developing next-generation carbon capture and storage technologies, creating holistic and circular materials businesses, and maximising crude to chemicals conversion," the notice said.

Akash and Isha have been on the board of directors of both Jio and Reliance Retail since October 2014. Besides being on the boards of firms helming new energy businesses, Anant is also on boards of retail and Jio. Isha has been appointed director on the board of Jio Financial Services.

(With PTI inputs)