Ratan Tata's top aide R Venkataramanan joins Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries

Ramachandran Venkataraman, who was among one of the most trusted aides of Ratan Tata, joined Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries (RIL) on Thursday. Venkataraman had quit Tata Trusts in February 2019. In RIL, he will assist in social programmes, health and education initiatives.

Tata Group's Chairman Ratan Tata, vice-chairmen Venu Srinivasan and Vijay Singh have been overseeing the operations at Tata Trusts after Venkataraman's exit.

Venkataraman had worked with Tata Trusts for five years. Venkataraman is expected to boost Reliance Industries' social initiatives. In FY 2017-18, RIL had spent around Rs 770 crore on philanthropic activities carried out through Reliance Foundation.

Venkataraman is one of the few executives from Tata Group to switch to RIL. RIL and Tata Group had stopped hiring from each other to avoid competition, but the two conglomerates have been cooperating on areas related to social work.