Reliance Industries to appoint Nita Ambani as director on board

MUMBAI: Mukesh Ambani's wife Nita is set to join the board of India's largest private sector company Reliance Industries Ltd. Shareholder approval for her appointment will be sought at RIL's annual general meeting on June 18, said a company release. She currently heads Reliance Foundation, the company's philanthropic initiative, and is also closely engaged in running the Ambani-owned Mumbai Indians Indian Premier League team. On the RIL board, she will replace long-serving director Ramnik H Ambani, 90, who is due to retire.

Her public profile has been rising over the past few years. Apart from running the team, she has built up Reliance Foundation into an organisation with 1,000 employees four years after her husband had announced his desire to set it up. The non-profit body focuses on rural transformation, healthcare and education.

"Nita's nomination to the RIL board is a triumph of the value that diversity brings to issues like CSR (corporate social responsibility) for large companies. As the chairperson of Reliance Foundation, she can bring different inputs to the board," said Shailesh Haribhakti, chairman of consultancy firm Desai Haribhakti Group. Her role in the group got a boost when she was made a director at East India Hotels after RIL bought a 14% stake in 2010. She has also been involved with RIL's retail operations.

Nita Ambani has been closely involved with the business behind the scenes for years, having made her mark as part of the team that built the Jamnagar refinery, particularly with her initiative to transform the arid zone into a green belt with mango plantations.

She is also founder-chairperson of the Dhirubhai Ambani International School and is one of Mumbai's prominent society hostesses with cricketers and Bollywood stars rubbing shoulders at landmark Ambani residence, Antillia.