THERE WAS A TIME when it was not considered wrong to let your children know verbally what they would inherit once you were gone. The recent high-profile case of billionaire industrialist Mukesh Ambani appointing his successors, however, has put the spotlight back on succession planning. For the first time, at the annual general meeting of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), the Chairman detailed his succession plan, where his older son Akash and daughter Isha took over the reins of RIL’s telecom and retail businesses, respectively, while younger son Anant will lead the new energy business.
Clearly, Ambani is wiser, having weathered the bitter break-up of the erstwhile Reliance empire since his father Dhirubhai Ambani had not outlined a clear succession plan. This had resulted in a bitter tussle between Mukesh and his brother Anil, for control of
