The Hindu Business Line : Anil Ambani assumes charge at Infocomm, reconstitutes board

Mr Anil Ambani with his mother Kokilaben at the Reliance Infocomm city after taking over as the Chairman of Reliance Infocomm in Mumbai on Sunday. — Paul Noronha

Mumbai , June 26

MR Anil Ambani today assumed charge as Chairman of Reliance Infocomm and reconstituted the board of directors of the company.

The two new directors on the board are Mr Gautam Doshi, a chartered accountant, and Prof J. Ramachandran, who is a professor at Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore.

It is not known whether more appointees to the board would be made later.

The five earlier directors on the board resigned following the division of the Reliance group businesses between the two Ambani brothers. They are Mr Bharat Goenka, Mr Manoj Modi, Mr Anand Jain, as well as the most recent `controversy-time' appointees Mr Y.P. Trivedi and Mr M.P. Modi.

Mr Anil Ambani's visit on Sunday to the 140-acre headquarters of the company in Navi Mumbai started with the customary poojas at the temple on the premises .

Mr Ambani seemed to demonstrate considerable family support; he was accompanied by mother Ms Kokilaben, his sisters Ms Dipti and Ms Nina and their families, as well as his wife Ms Tina and two sons. The notable absentee was his brother and outgoing Chairman of the company, Mr Mukesh Ambani, whose brainchild the company is.

Mr Anil Ambani, (himself the original notable absentee on the day of the high decibel launch of the company's operations on December 27, 2002) then proceeded to the Chairman's office with his family. Another lengthy pooja session later, he spent the rest of his visit legging it from block to block addressing the employees of the company and inspecting the facilities. Since the heads of departments were asked to turn up, most department employees too were present , although it was not compulsory for them to do so, said officials with the company.

The employees were waiting in the scores to get a glimpse of their new Chairman and to shake hands with him. Mr Anil Ambani too visited each of the 10 administrative blocks and three food courts in the complex, having informal and ad-hoc chats with employees.

The new Chairman afterwards addressed Reliance Infocomm employees across the country through a webcast across 85 offices and locations. "It is a privilege to assume the leadership of this great enterprise. We are committed to creating value and leading a billion Indians into the digital era," he said.

The event which the media was told would be a photo-opportunity, became quite chaotic with the new Chairman having little time to provide them any such opportunity. Matters went out of hand when the new Chairman ignored his car and decided to walk from the temple to the various blocks on the premises at a brisk trot. Photographers and cameramen chased him from block to block, looking for the elusive photo-opportunity, blocking the Chairman's path from time to time and straining his patience even further.

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