Six Reliance Energy directors resign

Thursday, 25 November 2004, 20:30 IST
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MUMBAI: Reliance Energy, an arm of India's largest private business conglomerate Reliance Industries, said Thursday that six of the company's directors had resigned. The development comes amid the much talked about feud in the Ambani family, which controls the Reliance empire with 800 billion in annual sales. In a statement issued to the Bombay Stock Exchange, Reliance Energy said Satish Seth, executive vice chairman of Reliance Energy, and K.H. Mankad, director (finance), have submitted their resignations. The others who quit are S.C. Gupta, director (operations), J.P. Chalasani, director (business development), J. Ramachandran, independent director, and another director, Amitabh Jhunjhunwala. Shares of Reliance Energy tanked as much as five percent as soon as the news of the mass resignations reached the trading ring. Anil Ambani, vice chairman of Reliance Industries, manages Reliance Energy. Rumours of a rift between the two brothers, Mukesh and Anil Ambani, who control the diversified operations of the Reliance group, have been raging for months. Things took a turn for the worse when a private TV channel reported last week that Mukesh, 47, had admitted to "ownership issues" with his younger brother and vice chairman of the group, Anil, 45. In an internal e-mail message to all the Reliance employees, Mukesh claimed Tuesday he was the final authority on all company matters and that the ongoing ownership controversy would have no impact on the functioning.
Source: IANS