Ambani fight affecting eco, reflects on biz ethics: Think-tank

London, Sept 8 (PTI) Moving beyond loss of a few business contracts, the rivalry between two billionaire Ambani siblings -- Mukesh and Anil -- has begun to affect India's economic development and to reflect on business ethics, an influential British think-tank has said.

Oxford Analytica, an independent consulting firm, has said in a recent country note on India that Mukesh and Anil Ambani figure among the world's richest men and their empire of Reliance companies "spans the Indian economy".

While noting that the two have prospered since 2005 in India's fast growing economy, it said that "division of the family estate has not resolved their rivalry, which goes very deep and reflects fundamental questions of business ethics".

"The struggle between the Ambani brothers threatens to exert a serious impact on the economy, notably (in the short term) by introducing uncertainty into energy regulation and delaying investment in the gas sector.

"While Anil's political links may strengthen his position
against his brother at present, his business interests will be
vulnerable if the opposition Bhartiya Janta Party returns to
power," it said.

"The struggle for supremacy between the brothers, who
were joint heirs to the vast fortune of their father Dhirubhai
Ambani, is beginning to have significant implications for
Indian economic development and to spill over into political
affairs," Oxford Analytica noted.

It said younger brother Anil has "taken the family into
politics by becoming a key financial backer of Samajwadi
Party, which has the fourth-largest delegation in Lok Sabha,
and has mounted a push to expand from its base in Uttar
Pradesh -- the most populous state -- to become a national
party".

Views of Oxford Analytica is said to have significance
given its network of over 1,000 faculty members at Oxford and
other major universities and institutions around the world.

Talking about Ambanis, Oxford Analytica said, "the
rivalry between the brothers has moved well beyond sports
sponsorship and loss of a few contracts. It has begun to
affect national politics, too, and billions of dollars in
potential investment."

About elder sibling Mukesh Ambani, the report said that
earlier this year he "intervened on a technical legal point to
prevent his brother from participating in a merger between
Reliance Telecom and M.T.N. of South Africa, which would have
created the fifth-largest telecoms company in the world".
"However, Mukesh does not hold the upper hand. The
Samajwadi Party has now become a key ally of Congress-led
national government."

"When four Marxist parties forced a confidence vote (held
on July 22) by withdrawing their support over the issue of a
nuclear energy deal with the U.S., Anil played an important
role in securing the requisite backing to keep the government
intact -- at a cost estimated at some three million dollars
per vote," it added.

"Where the Samajwadi Party's rapprochement with the
ruling Congress Party will leave Mukesh and the older Reliance
Industries is now a matter of open conjecture."

Oxford Analytica regularly comes out with analysis of
implications of national and international developments facing
corporations, banks and governments across the world.

The report further said that "Samajwadi Party leader Amar
Singh is believed to have demanded from the government, as the
price of its support, a windfall tax on private energy
companies and a ban on the export of refined petroleum
products -- both of which would devastate Mukesh's interests."

"While the government has yet to respond to these
demands, which would hit many more companies than Reliance,
they have a populist appeal and could be enacted," Oxford
Analytica said. PTI RAM