Billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s daughter Isha and former CAG Rajiv Mehrishi are among the directors appointed on the board of the demerged financial services unit of Reliance Industries, the company said on Saturday.
Reliance had previously announced plans to demerge its financial services undertaking into Reliance Strategic Investments Limited (RSIL) and rename and list it as Jio Financial Services Limited (JFSL).
It will lend to consumers and merchants based on proprietary data analytics and will eventually branch out to insurance, payments, digital broking and asset management.
Every Reliance shareholder will get one share of the new firm for every share held in the parent. While the effective date of the demerger has been fixed as July 1, July 20 has been fixed as the record day for allocating the shares of the new company, according to the company’s stock exchange filing.
The spinoff, which will create the fifth-largest financier in terms of capital and compete directly with the likes of Paytm and Bajaj Finance, will complement Reliance’s consumer businesses, which include India’s largest wireless operator with about 428 million users and a retail chain with over 17,000 stores.
“By provisions of the (demerger) Scheme, Reliance Strategic Investments Limited (RSIL) shall issue and allot one fully paid-up equity share of RSIL having a face value of Rs 10 each for every one fully paid-up equity share of Rs 10 each of the company to the shareholders whose names are recorded in the register of members and/or records of the depository as on the record date,” the firm said in a stock exchange filing.
The board of directors of the new company, at a meeting held on July 7, approved the appointment of new directors.
Isha Mukesh Ambani, the elder daughter of the billionaire, has been appointed as a non-executive director.
Reliance executive Anshuman Thakur too has been appointed as a non-executive director.
Former bureaucrat Rajiv Mehrishi, who served as home secretary as well as the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, has been appointed independent director for five years.
Sunil Mehta, chief executive of the Indian Banks’ Association, and Bimal Manu Tanna, a chartered accountant who worked with PwC, have been appointed independent directors.
Banker Hitesh Kumar Sethia has been appointed MD and CEO of RSIL for three years.