The call Anil Ambani never got from Jio

A deal between brothers Anil Ambani of Reliance Group and Mukesh Ambani of Reliance Industries fell through and now Anil not only faces arrest if he doesn’t pay off dues to Swedish telecom equipment maker Ericsson in a month but also has little hope of escaping bankruptcy.

And the reason why the deal fell through is the refusal of the elder brother, Mukesh, to step up and bail his younger brother out. The senior Ambani had reservations on bearing guarantee for his younger brother’s past debts.

Anil’s debt-ridden RCom, which was being pursued by lenders, had an asset monetisation plan that could help it pare down its debt by Rs 18,000 crore. At the heart of this plan was the deal to sell RCom’s spectrum assets to Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio.