India’s Supreme Court ruled in favor of the nation’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani, yesterday as it settled his feud with his brother Anil over a family deal to divide the country’s biggest gas field.
The court threw out a contract between the estranged siblings involving the supply of natural gas from the Krishna-Godavari basin off the east Indian coast.
Anil had demanded the honoring of the 2005 agreement brokered by their mother that would allow his company to buy gas for 17 years from the KG basin owned by Mukesh at a price lower than the one set by the government.
Mukesh sought to have this deal annulled in a legal fight that has captivated India with its mix of incredible wealth and family feuding.
“It is a complete victory for Mukesh Ambani,” his lawyer Sameer Parekh told reporters after the court decision.
“They have to renegotiate the agreement in six to eight weeks in accordance with government policy,” he said.
Reflecting the decision, shares in Anil’s group, Reliance Natural Resources, plunged 18.3 percent to 55.85 rupees on the Mumbai stock exchange. Shares in Mukesh’s Reliance industries rose 4.6 percent to Rs1,057 after the verdict.
The seeds of the feud lie in a deal between the brothers slicing up the Reliance telecoms-to-energy empire built by their rags-to-riches father Dhirubhai Ambani, who died in 2002 leaving no will.
In the asset split, Mukesh kept the oil, gas and petrochemicals businesses of the group’s flagship Reliance Industries. Anil got Reliance Energy, one of India’s biggest power utility firms, the phone company and finance arm.
Under the terms of the 2005 gas agreement brokered by their mother, Anil would receive gas supplied by Mukesh at a price 44 percent lower than the government-set price.
Anil, who wants the gas to fuel his group’s planned 7,800 megawatt power plant in the town of Dadripower, has accused his brother of “corporate greed” and trying “every trick in the book” to wriggle out of the agreement.
The government meanwhile has asserted its right to set gas prices, arguing the gas from the Krishna-Godavari Basin belongs to the nation and cannot be subject to a family pact and sold at cut-rate prices.
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to
RSS