Anant Ambani appointed as whole-time director of Reliance Industries

Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries has appointed Anant Ambani as a whole-time director. He has been appointed for a term of five years, starting from May 1, 2025.

“The Board of Directors of the Company at its meeting held today, on the recommendation of the Human Resources, Nomination and Remuneration Committee, considered and appointed Shri Anant M. Ambani (DIN: 07945702), a Non-Executive Director of the Company, as Whole-time Director designated as Executive Director of the Company,” the company said in an exchange filing on Friday, April 25, 2025.

Prior to the newly appointed role, Anant Ambani has served as a non-executive director on Reliance’s board. He is a part of the boards of several Reliance group companies, such as Jio Platforms, Reliance Retail Ventures, Reliance New Energy and Reliance New Solar Energy. Anant has also been a board member of Reliance Foundation since September 2022. He has been a key towards Vantara, which is considered to be the world’s largest animal rescue and rehabilitation centre.

Anant's siblings, Akash Ambani and Isha Ambani, currently serve as non-executive directors on the Reliance Board. Akash is also the chairman of Reliance Jio Infocomm, the telecom and digital services arm of the group, and Isha is an executive director at Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd, the group’s retail arm.

In 2023, an international proxy advisory firm, Institutional Shareholder Services Inc., advised shareholders to vote against the proposal to appoint Anant Ambani to the board due to age concerns, according to a report by Bloomberg News.

“A vote against this resolution is warranted as Anant Ambani’s limited leadership/board experience of around six years, raises concerns on his potential contribution to the board,” the report quoted ISS. However, the proxy advisory firm backed the appointment of Akash Ambani and Isha Ambani.

Meanwhile, the report further mentioned that another international proxy firm, Glass Lewis, favoured Anant’s appointment. “We do not single out Anant Ambani from the other siblings based on experience,” the report quoted Decky Windarto, Glass Lewis’s director of Asia-Pacific Research.“We noted that the other two directors up for election are just three years older than Anant, with similar professional experiences," it added.