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| Sunday, 28 November 2004 |
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Family feud over control of India's leading business group intensifies NEW DELHI, Saturday (AFP) The rift in India's Ambani family which controls India's biggest private enterprise group Reliance deepened as elder brother Mukesh rejected his younger brother's objections to a change in their management roles, a report Friday said. Shares of Reliance group firms have been on a roller-coaster ride since the dispute between Mukesh Ambani, chairman of petrochemicals giant Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), the conglomerate's flagship, and his brother, Anil, Reliance vice-chairman, flared into the open last week. The board of directors of Reliance Industries "has not accepted" Anil's challenge to superior powers given to the elder brother at the board's meeting of July 17, an RIL spokesman told the Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency. The reported quoted the spokesman as saying the RIL board had vested full authority in the chairman and managing director Mukesh Ambani. The spokesman added, however, contrary to media reports Mukesh Ambani was not exploring legal options. The spokesman's comments came after Anil, 45, expressed concern about "a redefinition of the powers and authorities" of company officials, including himself, in a letter The Economic Times said he wrote to Mukesh October 25. Anil said in the letter published by the daily an agenda item at a July 27 board meeting meant a "substantial and material variation of the (power) equation as has existed at RIL for the past more than two decades". He said he was kept "completely in the dark" about the agenda item. Anil said minutes of the board meeting also were incorrect and this was "evident from the fact that even I am supposed to have voted in favour of the proposed resolution. Clearly I as vice chairman and managing director would not vote for prejudicial variation of my existing authorities and powers!" The RIL spokesman said the "RIL board did not accept points made by Anil Ambani ... the RIL board finds no case for Mukesh to respond to the note". On Thursday, Anil, declined to comment to reporters on the nature of the dispute but said it would not be resolved fast. "At an approrpiate time I will make a statement," he said, adding, "There are long hours and long days to go." Financial analysts say the dispute between the brothers could turn into a protracted court battle. Mukesh became Reliance Industries chairman after his father, rags-to-riches entrepreneur Dhirubhai Ambani, died in July 2002. Rumours about differences between the brothers have been rife since then. Reliance Industries is India's biggest private-sector refiner and petrochemical company by sales. Mukesh wrote an e-mail to Reliance Industries employees this week he was the "final authority" in all matters involving Reliance, saying that there was "no ambiguity" in his father's legacy. Reliance shares have tumbled amid a blizzard of reports about the rift between the brothers. |
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