Mumbai: Anil Ambani, a former Indian billionaire, resigned from the boards of Reliance Power Ltd. and Reliance Infrastructure Ltd. after an order from the country’s market regulator for alleged diversion of funds.
Ambani has resigned as the non-executive director in compliance with the Securities and Exchange Board of India’s interim order, both the companies said in an exchange filing late Friday.
“The board looks forward to an early closure of the matter,” the companies said in two separate statements to the exchanges, adding that they look forward to inviting “Mr. Ambani back to provide his vision and leadership to the company in the interest of all stakeholders.”
SEBI in February had issued a retraining order on founder Ambani and other top executives of a group entity, Reliance Home Finance Ltd., for allegedly diverting funds to other related companies to repay debt.
Ambani has been struggling with his businesses after a shadow lending crisis in India in 2018 dried up funds for local banks and financiers, forcing policy makers to step in and rescue at least half a dozen lenders. Among them, was Ambani’s Reliance Capital Ltd., that was seized by the Reserve Bank of India last year after a series of repayment defaults.
Banks across India and China are trying to recover money from Ambani. State Bank of India, the country’s largest lender, filed a personal bankruptcy case against Ambani after battling him in court.
Ambani is the chairman of Reliance Group of companies that include Reliance Communications Ltd., Reliance Capital, Reliance Infrastructure, Reliance Power, Reliance Defence and Engineering Ltd., Reliance Defence Ltd. and Reliance Defence Technologies Pvt., according to the group’s website. –Bloomberg
Also read: Anil Ambani, Tendulkar among Indians who parked funds in offshore firms, ‘Pandora Papers’ reveal