London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Aug 22, 2025

Daughter rises in Mukesh Ambani’s succession plan

Daughter rises in Mukesh Ambani’s succession plan

In the clearest hint of a succession roadmap, Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani carved out definite roles for each of his three children at the annual general meeting of his $220bn (£193bn) retail-to-refining conglomerate in August.
Ambani's older twins, Akash and Isha Ambani, will lead Reliance Industries Ltd's telecommunications and retail businesses respectively, while his youngest son Anant is being groomed to handle new energy.Corporate India's most anticipated leadership transition - Reliance is one of India's most valuable companies by market valuation - has been in the works for some time. The particulars of the impending wealth transfer are sketchy at the moment, and largely in the realm of speculation.

But what is palpable is Ambani's desire to avoid repeating history: the acrimonious inheritance battle he waged with his younger brother 20 years ago, after their father died without leaving a will.

Isha Ambani's leadership role is also in stark contrast to the largely peripheral role that other women from her family have played in the core business until now.

Over the past two decades, there has been a generational shift in the number of prominent Indian industrial families bringing women into the corner office - though analysts say there is still a long way to go.

Ambani, 65, is actively involved in running Reliance as its chairman and managing director and could have bought more time before thrusting his children into the limelight.

But unlike many Asian patriarchs who hold a tight control over their wealth till the end, he represents a "new generation of family business leaders" in Asia who've witnessed succession feuds and want to take "every step possible" to make the journey for their children smooth, says Prof Kavil Ramachandran, a senior adviser at the Thomas Schmidheiny Centre for Family Enterprise at the Indian School of Business.

From the Tata group - which owns Jaguar and Land Rover - to the Singhania family that's behind the textiles major, Raymond Group, India Inc has seen a series of rancorous succession battles. These have led to messy lawsuits and long-winded arbitration proceedings that have proven to be costly to shareholders.

But wealthy Asian families like the Ambanis are once bitten, twice shy, experts say.

The issue of intergenerational wealth transfer is also "gaining even more significance in a Covid-19 context," according to wealth consulting firm Hubbis.

While fewer than half of Asian families have succession plans in place, the pandemic has encouraged 84% of India's ultra-wealthy to reassess how they will transfer their wealth, global property consultancy Knight Frank estimates.

What's also being reassessed, it appears, is the role of women in succession plans.

Speaking of the leadership roles his three children were assuming, Ambani in his speech said "they are first among equals in a young team of leaders and professionals who are already doing amazing things at Reliance".

Isha Ambani's rise as an "equal" to her brothers is a clear shift from her older female relatives - her aunts got married into other business families long before the inheritance dispute split the Ambani family.

But Ms Ambani, a Yale graduate who worked at the consulting giant McKinsey, has been groomed to join the Reliance empire.

Given the influence the Ambanis wield, especially within the traditional Gujarati mercantile community they belong to, this gender shift is likely to have a "strong messaging effect," Prof Ramachandran says.

It's "a significant move that will set the tone for other business families, " says Sandeep Nerlekar, founder and managing director of the legacy planning firm Terentia. He has been advising family-owned corporates on succession plans for over a decade.

Ms Ambani is part of a new generation of women from major business families who have taken on senior leadership roles. This includes Nisaba Godrej, who leads one of the country's oldest diversified conglomerates; Nadia Chauhan who heads Parle Agro, one of India's top consumer goods companies; and at least half a dozen others.

There are several forces behind the change, experts say - including more women accessing higher education, and traditional joint families giving way to nuclear ones.

More women are also "being vocal about their rights and capabilities without worrying about feathers being ruffled", says Dipali Goenka, managing director and CEO of Welspun India, part of the $2.7bn Welspun Group, one of India's biggest textile companies.

Ms Goenka got married at the age of 18 and joined her husband's business after her children grew up and she decided to study management at Harvard Business School.

But there is still a long way to go.

Eight in 10 families in India still continue to harbor a bias towards sons when it comes to estate planning, Nerlekar says, citing a Terentia study. "Even wealth distribution between a daughter and a son is not equal," he adds.

The bitter public battle for a board seat by Valli Arunachalam, one of the heirs to the Chennai-based Murugappa Group, only underscores how difficult it is for Indian women to break through the glass ceiling.

Legal changes - to Hindu succession laws for instance, which gave women equal inheritance rights, irrespective of marital status - have helped smooth the way for women, experts say. And government rules requiring women to be included on company boards is increasing representation as well

But experts say this is a battle against patriarchy - and it has only just begun.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Ukraine Declares De Facto War on Hungary and Slovakia with Terror Drone Strikes on Their Gas Lifeline
Animated K-pop Musical ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Becomes Netflix’s Most-Watched Original Animated Film
New York Appeals Court Voids Nearly $500 Million Civil Fraud Penalty Against Trump While Upholding Fraud Liability
Elon Musk tweeted, “Europe is dying”
Far-Right Activist Convicted of Incitement Changes Gender and Demands: "Send Me to a Women’s Prison" | The Storm in Germany
Hungary Criticizes Ukraine: "Violating Our Sovereignty"
Will this be the first country to return to negative interest rates?
Child-free hotels spark controversy
North Korea is where this 95-year-old wants to die. South Korea won’t let him go. Is this our ally or a human rights enemy?
Hong Kong Launches Regulatory Regime and Trials for HKD-Backed Stablecoins
China rehearses September 3 Victory Day parade as imagery points to ‘loyal wingman’ FH-97 family presence
Trump Called Viktor Orbán: "Why Are You Using the Veto"
Horror in the Skies: Plane Engine Exploded, Passengers Sent Farewell Messages
MSNBC Rebrands as MS NOW Amid Comcast’s Cable Spin-Off
AI in Policing: Draft One Helps Speed Up Reports but Raises Legal and Ethical Concerns
Shame in Norway: Crown Princess’s Son Accused of Four Rapes
Apple Begins Simultaneous iPhone 17 Production in India and China
A Robot to Give Birth: The Chinese Announcement That Shakes the World
Finnish MP Dies by Suicide in Parliament Building
Outrage in the Tennis World After Jannik Sinner’s Withdrawal Storm
William and Kate Are Moving House – and the New Neighbors Were Evicted
Class Action Lawsuit Against Volkswagen: Steering Wheel Switches Cause Accidents
Taylor Swift on the Way to the Super Bowl? All the Clues Stirring Up Fans
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Apple Expands Social Media Presence in China With RedNote Account Ahead of iPhone 17 Launch
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Cambridge Dictionary Adds 'Skibidi,' 'Delulu,' and 'Tradwife' Amid Surge of Online Slang
Bill Barr Testifies No Evidence Implicated Trump in Epstein Case; DOJ Set to Release Records
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
The CEO Who Replaced 80% of Employees for the AI Revolution: "I Would Do It Again"
Emails Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Character.ai Bets on Future of AI Companionship
China Ramps Up Tax Crackdown on Overseas Investments
Japanese Office Furniture Maker Expands into Bomb Shelter Market
Intel Shares Surge on Possible U.S. Government Investment
Hurricane Erin Threatens U.S. East Coast with Dangerous Surf
EU Blocks Trade Statement Over Digital Rule Dispute
EU Sends Record Aid as Spain Battles Wildfires
JPMorgan Plans New Canary Wharf Tower
Zelenskyy and his allies say they will press Trump on security guarantees
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Escalating Clashes in Serbia as Anti-Government Protests Spread Nationwide
The Drought in Britain and the Strange Request from the Government to Delete Old Emails
Category 5 Hurricane in the Caribbean: 'Catastrophic Storm' with Winds of 255 km/h
"No, Thanks": The Mathematical Genius Who Turned Down 1.5 Billion Dollars from Zuckerberg
The surprising hero, the ugly incident, and the criticism despite victory: "Liverpool’s defense exposed in full"
Digital Humans Move Beyond Sci-Fi: From Virtual DJs to AI Customer Agents
YouTube will start using AI to guess your age. If it’s wrong, you’ll have to prove it
Jellyfish Swarm Triggers Shutdown at Gravelines Nuclear Power Station in Northern France
×