I am a professional first, says Anil

6 Reliance Energy directors told to continue till board meet.

Reliance Energy Chairman and Managing Director Anil D Ambani said in an e-mail to the company's 25,000 employees that he was working in the company as a professional with no personal shareholding.

Anil Ambani's mail comes five days after a similar message sent by his elder brother and Reliance Industries Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani to the Reliance group employees, which said he "was the final authority on all matters concerning Reliance".

In his message, Anil Ambani said he considered it a "privilege to count each one of the employees" among his colleagues. He urged the employees to send in their inputs and comments as it would "be of great support to me".

"For me professionalism is a value system, a state of mind, and above all a culture of respect for all," Anil Ambani said.

Anil Ambani also requested the six Reliance Energy directors who had put in their papers on Thursday withoutciting reasons to "continue to serve the company". A Reliance Energy spokesperson said in a media release today that the board of directors of the company "is likely to meet in the next few days to consider the resignations of six directors and other related issues".

The directors who had put in their papers are Executive Vice-Chairman Satish Seth, Finance Director K H Mankad, Director (Operations) SC Gupta, Business Development Director J P Chalasania and two non-executive directors, J Ramachandran and Amitabh Jhunjhunwala. In corporate circles, today's statement is being seen as an indication that the directors will be reinstated at the company's next board meeting.

Anil Ambani's appeal to the six directors not to leave Reliance Energy was akin to Mukesh Ambani's request to Mansinh Lal Bhakta, an independent director at Reliance Industries, to reconsider his resignation. Bhakta had resigned from the board citing his "advancing age".

Reiterating that Reliance Energy had created "tremendous value" for Reliance Industries, Anil Ambani added that his role in the company was to "serve the interests of all our stakeholders". The e-mail could be aimed at quelling the "sense of anguish and uncertainty" of the employees after the six Reliance Energy directors tendered their resignations last Thursday.

"This development (the resignations), widely commented upon in the media, has left all of you with a sense of anguish and uncertainty. I fully understand and appreciate these concerns," Anil Ambani explained.

Stating that Reliance Energy was today India's most valuable power sector company, with a market capitalisation of Rs 10,000 crore and profit of Rs 367 crore as a result of fast growth, Anil Ambani said, "Reliance, Dhirubhai Ambani would often say, has been built on the foundation of relationship and trust."