RIL vs. RNRL: This Is A Full Blown Street Fight

One would think that for the amount of money that the Ambani brothers have they’d at least be happy. We’re talking about two men who are annually listed among the top ten richest people in the world.Yet every single time one brother gets a slight advantage; the other one simply can’t wait to ruin the other’s happiness. This sibling rivalry has unfortunately turned out into one big ego brawl between Mukesh and Anil Ambani.

RIL’s loss in the Bombay High Court regarding the sale of gas from the KG Basin to RNRL was expected to stay that way. But the elder Ambani has dragged the matter to the Supreme Court. The matter came up for hearing today and judging by the way this is turning out, Corporate India is set to witness a no holds barred street fight between the elder Mukesh and the younger Ambani.

The way this battle is playing out it looks like the brothers want to kill each other.

It’s not like RIL will lose so much money that Mukesh’s empire will collapse if he sells the gas at $2 less than the regulated price .It’s also not as if Anil Ambani can’t afford to pay $2 /mmBtu more for the same.

Both companies keep arguing that in the end it’s about good business which might be true but not at the cost of antagonizing so many Reliance shareholders over a game of sibling rivalry.

Today’s hearing on the matter in the Supreme Court was quite brief. The court has adjourned the matter till the first of September. In this time it will study the Bombay High Court’s verdict and go through the barrage of petitions, claims, counter claims, affidavits, counter affidavits and counter-counter affidavits that both companies have filed.

This is the sudden catch in the entire matter. The new entrant in this game is none other than the Government of India.

It surely looks like Murli Deora simply cannot stay out of trouble. All of a sudden the government has filed a petition asking the Supreme Court to dismiss the Bombay High Court’s order in the RIL vs. RNRL case.

Here’s Mr.Deora’s explanation for the petition, something to the effect that the gas in the KG Basin is a national asset that belongs to the people of India and cannot be the property between two private companies.

Where was the government when the matter was being argued in the High Court? Conveniently it didn’t occur to them at that time that the KG basin was national property.

No wonder Ram Jethmalani kept fairly or unfairly harping upon the point today that Murli Deora and his Petroleum Ministry is in the pocket of Mukesh Ambani.

Because if the government’s appeal were to be accepted then Mukesh Ambani automatically gains the upper hand as Anil would be forced to pay a higher price for the KG gas.

It’s going to be a long few weeks for both companies, the Supreme Court and most of all the mother of the Ambani brothers—Kokilaben.