Dhirubhai Ambani and Reliance

Corporate Battles of Dhirubhai Ambani Contd...

All this infuriated Nusli Wadia and marked the beginning of one of the major battles in the history of Indian business which lasted for several years. In the 80s, Ramnath Goenka, (Goenka) the proprietor of the Indian Express Group⁸ which was into news publication, had often tried to act as a mediator and solve the conflict between the two corporate giants; but in vain. Goenka backed Nusli Wadia. He considered the latter his son and at times, urged Dhirubhai to bring the rivalry to an end.

Even though Dhirubhai promised to do so, he continued his fight with Wadia and Goenka felt betrayed. Soon, Goenka turned against Dhirubhai and launched a series of press campaigns against Reliance.

Goenka always promised Dhirubhai that he would put an end to the campaigns being held against him in the press. But the very next moment, he would scheme another plot against him.

The assaults did not stop even when Dhirubhai was hospitalised after his first stroke in 1986. Newspapers, magazines and weekend tabloids continually attacked Dhirubhai.

To counter these attacks, a few weeks later, Reliance issued 15 advertisements in leading newspapers of the country including the Indian Express. The advertisements contained key statements like "concern for truth", "allegiance to ethics", and "commitment to growth". Goenka formulated a fresh assault issuing a statement that Reliance had smuggled extra machines into the country, and therefore had excess built capacity.

This resulted in a show cause notice from the customs, and a duty and penalty claim of Rs. 1.19 billion on Reliance. In spite of all these attacks, Dhirubhai never failed to retain public confidence. Slowly, tables started turning against Goenka. In September 1987, there was a nationwide raid on the Express group, and a number of cases were filed against it. Dhirubhai was victorious for once. After Goenka's death in 1991, his son, Vivek Goenka took over. But he did not see much sense in lobbying against Dhirubhai and this brought to an end the big battle.

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8] The Indian Express Group is a major publication house in India. It brings out the prestigious newspaper, The New Indian Express from 14 centres covering the states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, and Orissa. Express Publications (Madurai) Ltd is also the publisher of two vernacular newspapers. These are 'Dinamani' in Tamil and 'Kannada Prabha' in Kannada. The group also publishes the following magazines: Cinema Express (Tamil), Malayalam Vaarika (Malayalam) and Tamilan Express (Tamil).

Case Details

Case Code : LDEN011
Themes: Corporate Social Responsibility, Great Leaders
Case Length : 17 Pages
Period : 1958-2002
Organization : Reliance India
Pub Date : 2001
Teaching Note : Not Available
Countries : India
Industry : Varied

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