Sibling Rivalry

It is with interest that one follows the court room battle of the Ambanis' in the Krishna gas field case. For some of us who still remembers the father Ambani, (as well as those who have seen "Guru"), these actions are painful. Painful because, the siblings have lost touch with their roots, shareholder base.

Dhirubhai mobilized large funds from public and deployed it very effectively. He created assets on global scale & quality which is delivering stellar performance over extended period of time. Some of the tactics used by him to secure permissions (through the control raj), market share and remunerative prices may not be acceptable to all, but he did it and shared the earnings with his shareholders, a modern day Robin hood if you will.

Having created huge wealth, (and the sons should be given due credit for their role as well, in creating this wealth) the siblings would have done well to focus and grow from these enlarged base. Unfortunately they have started competing amongst themselves and engaged in a one up manship game which does not produce any winner. It is a plain play of highly bloated super egos and will leave all the stake holders at a loss. Lawyers of course will be partly offset by the huge fees they will pocket, even though they may be loosing on their Reliance holding!

From another perspective the case which is being battled in the courts can be said to be - "Should RNRL take its profit before RIL does or after wards?" If the Gas is priced at $2.42 per MMBTU, to RNRL, RIL will take may be another 10 to 15 years to recover their investment, while RNRL will reap the benefits immediately. This is not natural justice as these shareholders did not share the risk of developing the field. They parted midway and have to therefore wait for their turn. They are however entitled to share the benefits having been the members of the larger family of Dhirubhai Ambani in the undivided Reliance Industries, the parent company.

So, RNRL share holder have their claim on the Krishna Godavari gas, which can be likened to their claim on ancestral property, being original members of the Dhirubhai share holder legacy. But since they have chosen to be separate, they will have to wait for their turn, which will be as per the policies guided by the Government of India.

Both the companies, the whole world knows can influence government decisions. It is therefore more or like the Two cats and monkey story, where the monkey eats the entire "Dosa", attempting to equally apportion the bounty. The Government monkey is already at work by artificially jacking up the price and promising major portion to RIL. RNRL is peeved and hence the case!

Wake up Anil bhai; have a heart. After all you are the younger brother and I am sure your turn will come. You are also equally capable of creating huge wealth in the field chosen by you Power & Telecom. Focus on that and create values, so large that the Reliance share holders start crying foul and the Mukesh bhai camp starts scheming to refer to the "Family Agreement". the all encompassing, dark invisible document.