Ambanis begin talks, says RIL board member

Nudged by friends of late Dhirubhai Ambani, both Mukesh and Anil Ambani have started talks on a possible settlement at Reliance Industries, ...

Nudged by friends of late Dhirubhai Ambani, both Mukesh and Anil Ambani have started talks on a possible settlement at Reliance Industries, according to a RIL board member.

‘‘Let’s not discuss what happened in the past,’’ says Y.P. Trivedi, a director on the board of Reliance Industries, who — along with other director M.L. Bhakta — wants both brothers to arrive at a settlement. ‘‘We are quite positive that both brothers will reach a settlement in the near future,’’ Trivedi said.

Without giving any details on what the settlement may look like, Tridevi — a noted Supreme Court lawyer — said the talks are in the ‘private domain’. ‘‘Even I do not have access to what demands are being made by each brother,’’ he said. Both the brothers are very intelligent and they will work on a compromise formula for the benefit of 35 lakh Reliance shareholders, he added.

Story continues below this ad

‘‘This issue has been blown out of proportion and instead of looking at the past we should look into the future,’’ Trivedi said, ruling out any court battle between the brothers.

Tridevi said various Reliance group companies including REL and Reliance Infocomm made presentations to the RIL board from time to time and were aware of future investment plans of group companies. On the controversial Item 17 of July 27 board meeting, he said the board had cleared the proposal — barring a single dissent by Anil Ambani.