<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><root available-locales="en_US," default-locale="en_US"><static-content language-id="en_US"><![CDATA[<p>For a couple of months now, there have been rumours that the estranged Ambani siblings – Mukesh and Anil – were on the verge of some sort of rapprochement. There were stories that Mukesh Ambani might actually take up a stake or do business with some of the Anil Ambani companies. One story was that Mukesh would use the Anil Ambani managed Reliance Communication and its infrastructure for his own telecom rollout.<br><br>Yesterday, the brothers came together in a highly publicised family gathering in Chorwad on the late Dhirubhai Ambani's 80th birth anniversary. The two families intermingled, and there was cheer and bonhomie all around.<br><br>Observers are trying to figure out the implications of this sudden and highly publicised gathering of the clan. Some of the more optimistic ones talk about the two individual empires coming together once again and things going back to the old days where Mukesh was chairman and Anil was vice chairman of Reliance Industries Ltd. The more realistic ones talk about the two continuing to run individual empires, but utilising synergies and helping each other out with different things.<br><br></p>
<p><img src="/businessworld/system/files/ambani-brothers_PTI12_27_2011_mdm.jpg" width="200" height="200" style="float: right; margin: 8px;">The latter is scenario is the more probable one. For one, both the Ambani brothers have strong views on different businesses, and how they should be run. Just one small example: Mukesh was bullish on CDMA when he was running telecom in the undivided Reliance empire. In 2002, when telecom came to Anil after the empire was carved up, he promptly started pushing GSM into the spotlight. Later, Anil put big money on 3G spectrum. Mukesh chose to build his plans around broadband wireless. You could take any business and go on and on. It is more likely that the relations will be harmonious as long as they run separate companies.<br><br>More importantly, the third generation of the Ambanis are also growing up. Mukesh has two sons and one daughter. Anil has two sons. In the future, the third generation would probably find it easier to maintain cordial relations as long as they did not have to share businesses. Few business houses have managed to stay together amicably in the third generation simply because the aspirations of the inheritors are often very different as are their personalities and their appetites for risk.<br><br>At the same time, there are also some arguments in favour of the two Ambani brothers working in cooperation in at least some spheres, even if they do not go back to the pre-split days. For one, both brothers have learnt a lot in the years that followed the bitter split of 2002. Initially, both brothers rode high and both seemed to have inherited their father's Midas touch. The market capitalisation of their companies soared and it seemed that neither could put a foot wrong. But those were also the boom years of the global economy, and bold bets by both brothers were lapped up by the market.<br><br>Over the past two years, both brothers have suffered some setbacks. In the case of Mukesh Ambani, his foray into retail did not create quite the impact that was expected from an Ambani venture. He also faced problems with the falling gas output, which caused some degree of conflict with the government.<br><br>In the case of Anil, his telecom company accumulated enormous debt while his power ventures suffered many hiccups. But his finance companies and his entertainment ventures tasted good success.<br><br>The experiences of the past few years may have made the brothers realise that working together – at least in some sectors and in limited ways – is more advantageous than opposing each other at all times. <br><br><em>The author is the editor of Businessworld</em></p>