Reliance Comms board finally falls on its sword

Anil Ambani and four other board members have resigned, ten months after Reliance Communications filed for bankruptcy.

Chairman Anil Ambani, whose brother Mukesh is the person most responsible for the demise of RCom thanks to the creation of Reliance Jio, has finally decided to end his association with the decaying corpse of his company. Joining him in calling it a day are fellow board members Chhaya Virani, Ryna Karani, Manjari Kacker, Suresh Rangachar and CFO Manikantan V.

The news came in a filing with the Indian National Stock Exchange. Why the above board members hung around as long as they did is a mystery, but the ongoing carnage in the Indian telecoms sector, which has been exacerbated by the government’s remand that the legacy operators hand over billions of rupees in historical license fees.

Assuming that timing is more than a coincidence, it will be interesting to see what RCom’s creditors have to say about the move. According to the filing it’s in the power of a committee of creditors to accept or reject the resignations. If the directors are in any way personally liable for any of RCom’s debts then you would expect its creditors to be keeping a close eye on them.