At 10:50 in the morning, like most Mumbaikars, Mukesh Ambani was also stuck in a traffic jam. Over two dozen television broadcast vans with eagerly awaiting reporters, and a sea of shareholders, crammed the narrow approach to their annual pilgrimage venue – Birla Matoshree Sabhagriha – where Reliance Industries holds its annual general meetings (AGMs).
Even by RIL’s own standards, this year’s meeting was special. It was the first after the Supreme Court judgment; the first after the rapprochement between the two brothers; the first after the big-bang return to telecom. So, with close to 3,000 retail shareholders queuing up, braving the monsoon and the humid morning, the satisfaction was clearly showing on the chairman’s face, even though it meant staying stuck in a jam for a little extra time. He arrived at the venue sitting next to his chauffeur in his Mercedes, wearing his favourite red ‘AGM’ tie and cream shirt, jacket on his lap.
Inside the jam-packed auditorium, the volunteers and senior members of the corporate secretariat were equally eager to get things going. Managing the collective enthusiasm of such a big crowd was no easy job. The energy was kinetic. Key members of Mukesh’s brain trust – Anand Jain and Manoj Modi – engaged in animated discussion as they welcomed VIP guests and their new expat CEO for the retail division, Gwyn Sundhagul, into his first AGM.
The agenda was set.
.jpg "Mukesh Ambani")
‘An ignited corporation’
If some people were disappointed when they figured that younger brother Anil Ambani would not show up at the AGM and express solidarity, Mukesh Ambani made sure the disappointment did not last long. A target of $160 billion in just 10 years — that was his message to the shareholders. That’s where he wants to take his business to, and one could feel the sense of urgency in him as he read out from his speech.
“Today, Reliance is an ignited corporation that is determined to make an even greater contribution to India’s prosperity and all-round transformation,” he said. The blueprint is ready. It’s time for action. Infocomm is back, power gets a powerful thrust. Most important, the Ambanis will work together, though they remain separate business entities.
Ambani left subtle hints on what to expect in some critical matters in the days to come. The gas sales purchase agreement with brother Anil’s Reliance Natural Resources Limited (RNRL), for example. “As and when the power plants of Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) are ready to receive gas, we would commence supplies to them, subject to the government granting allocations to these plants in the same manner as we do to all other plants to whom government has allocated gas from the KG-D6 gas field,” he said. In the same breath, he added: “With the legal dispute behind us, we look forward to a harmonious and constructive relationship with ADAG.”
When 1+1 equals 11...
All is well then in Reliance, notwithstanding the disappointment of some shareholders as there was no announcement on bonus shares or super dividends. But for most, what more could they have asked for when it’s now clear that the family that stays together would also like to do business together. “Anil plus Mukesh is 1+1, but that is not 2. It is 11,” says a happy Kantilal Shah, part of the Reliance shareholder parivaar for the last three decades.
Nobody knows for sure if Anil Ambani, sitting in his office, watched his brother on TV when the AGM was beamed live across networks. His was also a busy working Friday — review meetings with different CEOs and vertical heads.
