Do we like Mukesh Ambani?
Our score: 6 out of 10. No harmful words of his own turned up and there is real relief work, but fossil-fuel weight, disputed political-money reports and Vantara criticism keep it mid-table.
Mukesh Ambani's story is the family firm. Reliance began as his father's textile business, moved into refining and petrochemicals, and split with his brother Anil in 2005, with Mukesh keeping the oil core. Then came Jio in 2016, which slashed data prices and put a huge part of India online. That is how a refiner became a telecom, retail and media giant.
The legal scrapes read as long, dull stoushes with the market regulator rather than villainy. SEBI fined him over alleged share-price rigging and a takeover-rules case, and tribunals threw out the penalties on him. In November 2024 the Supreme Court dismissed or declined SEBI's appeals, with one remark from the bench about “30 years of litigation”.
The newest fight is messy. Media owner Subhash Chandra alleged in August that people linked to Ambani helped hammer Zee's share price in 2019 and that TV18 spread misinformation about his debt case. Reliance called it baseless and said its media brands have never been used to attack anyone. It's one side's account, and the loan-resolution case is still under appeal.
On the harm check, we found no anti-LGBTQ+, anti-vax or conspiracy talk from him. The catch is scale. Reliance is a refining giant even as it pushes solar, hydrogen and batteries, and its AGM pitch this June leaned on AI and clean energy. Musk also shared reports alleging a Reliance-linked firm gave about Rs 385 crore to the BJP through electoral bonds; Reliance has not publicly answered his latest posts.
Vantara, the Jamnagar wildlife centre tied to the Reliance empire, has copped heat from conservationists, and a UK university's sustainability professorship linked to it drew academic outrage in September. Vantara has consistently denied any wrongdoing, and that criticism is about the project rather than Mukesh's own words. Still, a zoo inside a refinery complex is a hard sell for the planet-friendly crowd.
The good stuff is real. In March 2020 Reliance announced Rs 500 crore for the PM CARES Fund, a 100-bed COVID hospital built in about two weeks, millions of free meals and free fuel for emergency vehicles. He has also publicly urged corporate India to build better support for working women.