RBI approves appointment of Isha Ambani, Anshuman Thakur, Hitesh Sethia as directors of Jio Financial Services

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has approved the appointment of Isha Ambani, Anshuman Thakur and Hitesh Kumar Sethia as directors of Jio Financial Services. The central bank approved the appointments on November 15. 

"This approval is valid only for six months from the date of this letter. In case the company fails to give effect to the proposal within this time frame, it will have to apply again with reasons for having failed to effect the change on the earlier occasion," the RBI letter to the company stated. 

The stock was last seen trading 0.51 per cent higher at Rs 225.40. At this price, the company's turnover stood at Rs 35.12 crore with a market capitalisation (m-cap) of Rs 1,43,266.56 crore.

Isha Ambani, a graduate from Yale University with a double major in Psychology and South Asian Studies, and MBA from Stanford University, is part of the executive leadership team at Reliance Retail. She is also widely credited for conceptualising and launching Jio in India in 2016. 

Isha Ambani is spearheading the expansion of Reliance Retail vertical into new categories, geographies and formats. The company has its presence in food, consumer electronics and fashion retail. It is the largest retailer by reach, scale and revenue. Mukesh and Nita Ambani’s daughter is also closely involved in the work done by Reliance Foundation. 

Anshuman Thakur is a graduate in Economics and an MBA from IIM-Ahmedabad. With 24 years of experience, Thakur has experience in corporate strategy and investment banking and has worked across diverse industries. He is currently the Senior Vice President at Jio Platforms Limited, where he is responsible for strategy and planning functions. He joined the Reliance group in 2014. Before that, he had worked with Morgan Stanley, Arthur Andersen and Ernst & Young. 

Hitesh Sethia is a chartered accountant and an alumnus of Harvard Business School. He has been a financial services executive with over 2 decades of experience across Europe, Asia (India & Greater China) and North America. He has spent most of his career at ICICI Bank, and has a rich experience in areas of strategy formulation, market development, compliance, risk management and team building across multiple countries. He worked with ICICI Bank Canada, ICICI Bank Germany, ICICI Bank’s operations in the UK and Hong Kong as well. 

In the meeting held on July 7, the company board had recommended the appointment of Isha Ambani and Anshuman Thakur as non-executive directors. “Appointment of above directors is subject to the approval of members of RSIL and the Reserve Bank of India and will be effective from the date of receipt of approvaI of the Reserve Bank of India. None of the above proposed directors are related to other directors of RSIL,” the company had stated. 

The company had also approved the appointment of Hitesh Kumar Sethia as Managing Director and CEO of RSIL for a period of 3 years. “Appointment of Shri Hitesh Kumar Sethia is subject to the approval of members of the Company, the Reserve Bank of India and such other approvals as may be required,” it had said in a filing.  

Also read: Ahead of RIL Q2 results, appointment of Isha Ambani, Akash Ambani, Anant Ambani as Non-Executive Directors approved