Country’s largest private sector company Reliance Industries on Tuesday heralded the much-awaited generational change in the top management of its telecom arm, with Mukesh Ambani resigning from the board of Reliance Jio Infocomm.
His elder son, Akash (30), non-executive director, has been appointed as the chairman of the country’s largest telecom service provider. Jio is a wholly owned subsidiary of RIL and is credited with bringing about the biggest change in the telecom market by charging only for data that is voice free. This change comes at a time when the telecom market is poised for a generational change with the introduction of 5G technology and services.
Mukesh Ambani, however, will continue to be the chairman of Jio Platforms, the flagship company that owns all digital services brands including RJio, and which houses big-tech firms such as Facebook, Qualcomm, Google, Intel and several PE firms. Invested a total of ₹1.52 trillion.
Jio’s entry into the telecom services market in 2016 brought down data prices from around `200 per GB to less than `10 GB at present.
Mukesh Ambani, 65, has three children – twins Akash and Isha and youngest son Anant.
With this generational change in the telecom arm, it is widely expected that the reins of Reliance Retail may soon be handed over to 30-year-old Isha, who is married to Anand Piramal (son of Ajay and Swati Piramal of Piramal Group). Is. ,
Akash and Isha have been on the board of Reliance Retail Ventures (RRVL) – the company that deals in consumer electronics, food and grocery, fashion, jewellery, footwear and clothing as well as the online retail venture, JioMart – and the supermarkets that offer Jio operates. Platform since October 2014.
27-year-old Anant has recently been inducted as a director in RRVL. He is Director in JPL since May 2020.
Among other appointments, Pankaj Mohan Pawar was appointed Managing Director of Reliance Jio for a period of five years beginning June 27, a regulatory filing said. Former Union Finance Secretary Raminder Singh Gujral and former CVC KV Choudhary have been appointed as independent directors. Both are already on the board of RIL.
Akash, who is a major of economics from Brown University, was closely involved with the development and launch of JioPhone in 2017. The handset was intended to provide smartphone-like features to 2G phone users, which would eventually convert them to 4G services. He was also instrumental in building a digital ecosystem around 4G.
Aakash personally led Jio’s acquisitions and investments in the digital space over the years including Saavn Media, Buzzo.ai, Glance and Radisys India, and was involved in the development of new technologies and capabilities, including artificial intelligence (AI) . ), machine learning and blockchain.
Aakash’s promotion comes at a time when telcos have gone far beyond providing voice and data services. They have become the center of the entire digital interface of the consumers. Access to e-commerce services, top players, e-education, e-health etc. is gaining traction through partnerships with telecom companies. The launch of 5G services later this year will herald a major transformation with robotics, AI and machine-to-machine dialogue changing the face of the entire industry.