The battle, which went public in a CNBC interview in 2004 when Mukesh Ambani admitted to “ownership issues” with younger brother Anil, reached a decisive phase today after the Supreme Court’s order went in favour of Reliance Industries.
While no one can know the likely outcome of the court-mandated renegotiation talks between the two brothers, the consensus among independent observers is that the wounds will take a long time to heal — if at all. For, the differences between India’s richest brothers have become intractable. Consider this: Even though they still live in the same building, ‘Sea Wind’ in south Mumbai – Anil on the lower floors and Mukesh above him – the two brothers are reported to be coordinating their movements in and out of the house so that they never run into each other in the elevator or foyer.
The dispute, of course, has so far done little real harm business-wise — both empires have soared in value. Reliance Industries is valued at Rs 3,39,464 crore today against Rs 1,29,338 crore before the demerger. The Anil Dhirubhai Ambani (ADA) Group is valued at Rs 1,15,648 crore.
Several battlefields
But it’s a different story altogether at a personal level between the brothers. Both camps blame each other for the personal animosity, in which government ministers and bureaucrats have also been dragged in. While the Mukesh camp says Anil had gone too far with his irresponsible public outbursts against his elder brother, the other camp says Mukesh has never been able to digest the family settlement in 2005, which their mother Kokilaben brokered with the help of ICICI Bank’s then MD and now Chairman K V Kamath, and is out to finish him professionally.
The power struggle over D6 gas was the most publicised and important part of the dispute. But, the family drama has been fought in many other areas, too. When Anil attempted a landmark takeover of South African mobile operator MTN last year, the Mukesh camp scotched it by claiming a first right of refusal.
The two competed to win the Mumbai Trans Harbour Link and there was sparring over special economic zones. What was worse was, when stones were found in the fuel tank of Anil's helicopter, a whisper campaign was launched that the business rivalry between the two brothers was to blame.
Blaming the ‘3Cs’
In the last six years, Anil also unleashed the poison barb of “3Cs” repeatedly against his elder brother — the first time he did it was in November 2004, when he issued a public statement warning Mukesh of the chamchas, chelas and cronies who had driven a wedge between the two brothers and which precipitated the split in the Reliance group.
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Five years later, the younger brother chose to resurrect the old rhetoric and said he was deeply dismayed that Mukesh was acting contrary to the fundamental values of trust and integrity that their father Dhirubhai Ambani stood for. “I have no idea what it is… corporate greed, personal vendetta, misguided advice from the 3Cs,” Anil’s public statement said.
The Mukesh camp, which had refrained from making any public statement on the issue till then, hit back, saying Anil and his associates were attempting to convert what were essentially legal issues into public issues “for a self-serving media campaign” and “for private and personal gain”.
The Mukesh camp’s statement was also provoked by a media campaign by the ADA Group, which also attacked the petroleum ministry, in addition to Mukesh himself. "At the stroke of a pen, and in a matter of days, the petroleum ministry has approved a shockingly disproportionate 400 per cent hike in the project cost of Reliance Industries' KG-D6 gas fields, from $2.4 billion to $9 billion," read an ad appearing on the front pages of almost all the daily newspapers.
The UP button
In his now-famous speech at RNRL’s Annual General Meeting last year, the younger brother also attacked Petroleum Minister Murli Deora by talking about "the apparently biased and partisan role of the petroleum ministry." Although Anil did not mention Deora by name, his intentions were clear: In Parliament, his friend Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, accused Deora of being corrupt.
By then, the relationship had soured almost beyond redemption. So much so that, when Anil made a much-publicised trip to a pair of sacred north Indian shrines last year and prayed to Lord Shiva to resolve his dispute with Mukesh, the latter’s men called up mediapersons to say Anil need not have wasted money and fly to the Himalayas to connect with his brother. He could have just pushed the “up” button in their home elevator.
The dispute had clearly reached a public ridiculing of each other, and a point of no-return.