Anil Ambani may skip RIL meet today

Anil D Ambani, vice chairman and director of IPCL, did not attend the board meeting of the company today. There was a reason for this. He has resigned from the IPCL board.

And he is unlikely to attend another board meeting tomorrow "" that of Reliance Industries Ltd of which he is the vice chairman and managing director.

He has been fighting a bitter battle over the control of the Rs 99,000 crore Reliance group with his elder brother Mukesh Ambani.

The board of the country's largest private sector company will meet tomorrow to take into account the financial results of the third quarter (October-December) 2004-05.

On 26 October last year, Anil Ambani announced the six-monthly result of the company. It posted at 38.71 per cent jump in its net profit at Rs 1,752 crore, up from Rs 1,263 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

This time around, few are interested in the profit numbers as they find the fight between the brothers is a more interesting subject.

While Mukesh Ambani has been considered the "soul" of Reliance, Anil Ambani has been the "face" as he has been addressing the media and analysts after almost every quarterly results of the company.

This time around the* company is not holding any press conference or analysts' meet after the board meeting.

This is, however, not unusual as the company executives said that the ritual of addressing the media and the analysts community is a six-monthly affair and it does not happen every quarter.

Traditionally Anil Ambani addresses the journalists with his power point presentation after the board meeting while his Man Friday Amitabh Jhunjhunwalla plays a key role in interacting with the analysts.

Had Reliance gone for a media and analysts meet after the quarterly result, Mukesh Ambani would probably have addressed the media and Alok Agarwal, the treasurer, met the analysts.

The RIL board tomorrow will meet at the old board room at Maker Chamber IV and not at Reliance Centre where the board traditionally meets to consider the financial results ever since the new headquarters was built.

The last board meeting of the company also met at Maker Chamber IV (on December 27) to consider the buyback proposal.

Anil Ambani made a dramatic appearance before the media outside the premises of Maker Chamber IV ahead of that board meeting and lambasted the company for going ahead with the buyback proposal.

This time around, Alok Agarwal, treasurer, RIL, is likely to address the analysts' meeting.

RIL board meeting is unlikely to be held at the Reliance Centre till such time the spat between the two Ambani brothers continues, observers say.

This is because Reliance Centre is largely perceived to be a citadel of Anil Ambani while Mukesh has the last word on Maker Chamber IV and Dhirubhai Ambani Knowledge City (DAKC) at New Mumbai "" the hub of Reliance Infocomm.