Billionaire industrialist Mukesh Ambani's son to lead Reliance telecom unit

The move follows the resignation of Mr Ambani as director of Reliance Jio Infocomm on Tuesday

Billionaire industrialist Mukesh Ambani has stepped down as the director of Reliance Jio Infocomm. Reuters

Akash Ambani has been appointed as the new chairman of Reliance Jio Infocomm, the telecom arm of his father Mukesh Ambani's Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries.

The appointment came after the resignation of billionaire industrialist Mr Mukesh as the director of the unit, the company said in a regulatory filing on Tuesday. Mr Mukesh is ranked among the world's top 10 billionaires, with interests in different sectors, including retail and petrochemicals.

Jio Infocomm is part of Jio Platforms, which also houses other digital businesses, including movie streaming and music apps.

A number of global companies, including Google, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Mubadala Investment Company, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, Facebook, Intel Capital, KKR and Silver Lake Capital, among others, invested in Jio Platforms in 2020.

The PIF invested about $1.5 billion in Jio for a 2.32 per cent stake. Adia invested $753.4 million for a 1.16 per cent stake, and Mubadala invested $1.2bn for a 1.85 per cent stake.

Facebook invested $5.7bn in Jio Platforms in April 2020 for a 10 per cent stake, making it the biggest minority shareholder in the company. Google said it would invest $4.5bn for a 7.7 per cent stake.

Earlier this year, Reliance Industries became the first company in India to generate $100bn in annual revenue, after reporting a record-setting 2021-22 fiscal year, driven by its retail and digital services units.

The company's consolidated annual revenue through the fiscal year to March 31 surged 47 per cent to $104.6bn, while net profit rose about 26 per cent to $9bn, it said last month.

Meanwhile, Jio Platforms' revenue rose 17 per cent annually to $12.6bn, and net profit grew to $2bn.

Reliance has also invested in Abu Dhabi. It signed a formal shareholder agreement with Abu Dhabi Chemicals Derivatives Company to develop a major chemicals project at the latter's industrial chemicals zone in Ruwais in April.