Jhunjhunwala: New role

Mumbai, March 20: Amitabh Jhunjhunwala, referred to as the “financial guru” within the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (Reliance-ADAG), has been appointed vice-chairman of Reliance Capital (RCL).

The appointment of Jhunjhunwala, a confidant of Anil Ambani, comes days after he led Reliance Capital Asset Management Company to mop up Rs 5,700 crore from investors, the largest-ever collection by a mutual fund.

Jhunjhunwala, with 25 years of experience in financial markets, has developed some of the most innovative products for the global capital markets.

A company release said Jhunjhunwala has steered some of the biggest M&A deals in Indian capital markets, including the sale of Reliance Industry’s (RIL) stake in Larsen & Toubro to the Aditya Birla Group and the acquisition of Adlabs and AMP Sanmar by Reliance-ADAG.

As a leading light in the Reliance-ADAG thinktank, Jhunjhunwala is spearheading the recast exercise in the group, including the successful listing of four Reliance-ADAG companies. Jhunjhunwala was also the treasurer of Reliance Industries, where he managed the companies’ funds, capital markets and investor relations.

He was also the director of many Reliance Capital companies such as Reliance Capital Asset Management, Reliance Life Insurance and Reliance General Insurance. Jhunjhunwala, an FCA, is a voracious reader on all subjects and a fitness freak like Anil Ambani.

In the battle of control for the Reliance empire, Jhunjhunwala supported Anil Ambani and resigned from his position as treasurer of RIL, which was headed by Mukesh Ambani.