Anil Ambani

Anil Dhirubhai Ambani (born 4 June 1959) is an Indian businessman, chairman and managing director of Reliance Group (a.k.a. Reliance ADA Group).

He earned his Bachelor of Science degree from Kishinchand Chellaram College and received a Master in Business Administration at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1983.

Ambani's father Dhirubhai died in 2002 without leaving a clear succession plan.

After bickering between Anil and his brother Mukesh, their mother Kokilaben mediated and split the family owned businesses between the two brothers.

Anil Ambani received parts of Reliance Group with interests in telecom, entertainment, financial services, power and infrastructure.

He served in the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Parliament of India from Uttar Pradesh as an Independent MP between 2004 and 2006.

Anil Ambani is the youngest son of the founder of Reliance Industries, Dhirubhai Ambani and his wife Kokilaben Ambani.

Ambani has said that his father would lead the brothers on "incentive-oriented outings" where they would be rewarded with a box of mangoes for a 10-km (6 mile) hike, but also punished them for acting out in front of guests.

In 2005 Ambani made his debut in the entertainment industry with an acquisition of a majority stake in Adlabs Films, a company with interests in film processing, production, exhibition and digital cinema.

The Reliance Group was created in July 2006 following a demerger from Reliance Industries Limited.

He led several stocks listed corporations including Reliance Capital, Reliance Infrastructure, Reliance Power and Reliance Communications.

Ambani is also credited with India's largest IPO, that of Reliance Power, which in 2008 was subscribed in less than 60 seconds, the fastest in the history of Indian capital markets to date.

In 2008 a joint venture worth US$1.2 billion with Steven Spielberg's production company DreamWorks cast Ambani's entertainment business on to a global platform.

He has contributed to the production of several Spielberg films, including the Academy Award-winning Lincoln.

Ambani gained notoriety as one of the fastest destroyers of shareholder wealth in the last 100 years with the combined group market cap declining by 90% since the formation of the Reliance ADA Group.

The company was renamed Reliance MediaWorks in 2009.

In 2018, India's principal opposition party, Indian National Congress, accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of favouring Anil Ambani's defence manufacturing company over HAL, a public sector enterprise, in a fighter aircraft deal worth inr with French manufacturing firm Dassault.

In early 2019, a court in Mumbai held Ambani in criminal contempt for non-payment of personally guaranteed debt Reliance Communications owed to Swedish gear maker Ericsson.

Instead of jail time, the court gave him a month to come up with the funds.

At the end of the month, Ambani was bailed out by his elder brother, Mukesh Ambani.

In April 2019, three ADAG Companies reached standstill agreement with Franklin Templeton after secured NCD default.

This led to SEBI changing mutual fund regulation of reducing unlisted NCDs exposure to 10% and making standstill agreement void.

In aftermath, FT India didn't sell the pledged securities and wound 6 debt funds affecting 300,000 investors.

Ambani, once the sixth richest person in the world, declared before a UK court in February 2020 that his net worth is zero and he is bankrupt, although the veracity of that claim is in question.

In February 2020, Anil Ambani was locked in a legal battle with 3 Chinese banks.

He was asked to set aside US$100 million by the court which led him to make the statement that his net worth is currently zero after considering his liabilities.

The dispute still rages on with the UK court ordering him to pay the 3 Chinese banks to the tune of US$716 million.

In October 2021, Anil Ambani was named in the Pandora Papers along with his brother Mukesh.

In January 2023, the Bombay High Court questioned the Income Tax Department's accusation of tax evasion against Anil Ambani after a petition by him challenged the decision of the notice issued by the IT department.

Ambani belongs to a Gujarati family which hails from the village of Chorwad near Junagarh in the Kathiawar region of Gujarat state.

He is the youngest son of the legendary textile entrepreneur Dhirubhai Ambani and his wife, Smt.

Kokilaben Ambani, a devoted home-maker who founded the Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital in suburban Mumbai.

Anil is one of four children.

He has an older brother, Mukesh Ambani, and two sisters, Smt.

Nina Kothari (wife of late Bhadra Shyam Kothari) and Smt.

Deepti Salgaocar (wife of Dattaraj Salgoncar).

Anil Ambani is married to the actress Tina Munim.

He married her after facing much resistance from his family, due to the fact that she came from the world of fashion and glamour, and her lifestyle choices before marriage had been unconventional.

Nevertheless, the couple have had a stable marriage and have two sons, Jai Anmol Ambani and Jai Anshul Ambani.

On 20 February 2022, Ambani's elder son, Jai Anmol, married Krisha Shah, daughter of the late Nikunj Shah, a Mumbai-based entrepreneur.