Nita Ambani- Meet The First Lady Of Indian Business

Nita Ambani’s role as the first lady of Indian business is just one part of her busy life

- Naazneen Karmali

Ahead of its wider public rollout of the much-awaited 4G phone service, Reliance Jio Infocomm, the telecom arm of oil and gas giant Reliance Industries, held a December soft launch at a sprawling 500 acre corporate campus outside of Mumbai. Soft but big—the company controlled by Mukesh Ambani, India’s richest person, had 37,000 staff on site for the event, and more than 75,000 others from Reliance outposts were present by video link.

The debut took place on the eve of the group’s legendary founder Dhirubhai Ambani’s birth anniversary. With its attendant Bollywood glamour—superstar Shah Rukh Khan, Jio’s brand ambassador, presided as master of ceremonies—the gala was orchestrated by Nita Ambani, the billionaire’s wife, who has been involved with the telecom’s marketing and branding strategy.

In what is a first for any Ambani venture, the 4G service doesn’t deploy the Reliance name in its branding but is simply called Jio, which translates to ‘live life’ in Hindi. The well-recognised roundel logo of the parent has also been dispensed with. “This is a brave new world for us, so we decided, after much debate, to break away from the old,” explains Nita from Reliance’s headquarters in South Mumbai.

She occupies a desk in an open office that houses Reliance’s sports business, which she also oversees. While Ambani still works from his father’s old corner room on a higher floor, Nita says she prefers mingling with the crew.

This new open culture was ushered in at the urging of their US-educated twins, Isha and Akash, who work in an open office on Jio’s campus. Isha, who studied at Yale and worked briefly at McKinsey, is involved in marketing; Akash, an undergrad from Brown, works on the tech side. “I’m enjoying mentoring them,” says Nita.