Published Aug 29, 2026 | 1:53 PM ⚊ Updated Aug 29, 2026 | 6:08 PM
Subhash Chandra has trained his guns on Mukesh Ambani (right). (Photo Courtesy: Zee and Jio Institute)
Synopsis: Essel Group chairman Subhash Chandra has targeted the owner of CNBC-TV18, Mukesh Ambani, for what he alleges are false reports about the NCLT-approved debt resolution. “I am already empty; I have nothing to lose. You have a lot to lose,” Chandra warned Ambani. Reliance has swatted aside the allegations, but with a line of cordiality at the end.
Mukesh Ambani is in the line of fire of Subhash Chandra over reports that the Essel Group chairman received a 99.97% haircut on guarantees for a Rs 22,000-crore debt owed by his companies.
The total admitted claims against the Essel Group, for which Chandra stood as guarantor, were Rs 22,006.57 crore. This was whittled down under a debt resolution plan to Rs 6.5 crore by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), prompting Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi to dub it the ‘Neta-Company Loot Tribunal’.
“If a farmer doesn’t pay Rs 50,000, his land gets auctioned off. If a salaried person misses even one EMI, bank goons show up at the house. Poor students can’t even get loans for education. But for select “friends”, bank money is like personal property—withdraw as much as you want, repay whatever you feel like. The Modi government has created two systems in the country—one for a handful of billionaires, and another for everyone else,” Rahul charged, while tagging a CNBC-TV18 report.
Now, Subhash Chandra has gone after the owner of CNBC-TV18, one of India’s two big As, Mukesh Ambani, for what he alleges are false reports that have led to the outcry against him.
“For the first time, I am going to speak about a very large corporate person and his household. I won’t ask you to guess because I am going to take his name. He is Shri Mukesh Ambani and his organisation. Their media, the TV18 group—which includes CNBC—they are the ones who started publishing false things. They reported that Dr Subhash Chandra’s debt of 22,000 crores was settled by the NCLT for 6.5 crores,” the Essel Group chairman said in a video he released.
“…Their Chief Editor received a call from me, and I asked him why he was doing this. If you broadcast fake news, your credibility will also be ruined. That poor person said he was just following instructions from above and had to do it. When I found out about this, I called Mukesh Ambani… I couldn’t reach him; sometimes his phone connects, but this time it didn’t. So, I wrote a letter to him in the morning,” he narrated.
Subhash Chandra then went on to accuse Mukesh Ambani of orchestrating a 40% crash in the value of Zee shares on a single day in January 2019. “You can’t catch them because they have hundreds and thousands of nameless companies through which stock operations happen—how would you catch them?” he alleged.
Chandra also said that Mukesh Ambani had advised him not to worry about repaying the loans when Chandra tried to get Ambani to buy Zee. “Subhash ji, why are you paying so much interest and bank money? No one pays,” is what Chandra quoted Ambani as telling him.
The founder of Zee TV network and the Essel Group said he had turned down a Reliance Industries takeover proposal in 2021, involving Invesco, then a Zee shareholder. Chandra said it “was good for my family” but “not right for minority shareholders”.
He first pleaded with Mukesh Ambani to end the propaganda war before handing down a clear warning.
“Mukesh ji, please stop the wrong propaganda against me personally and my group. Zee is a group company; I don’t own anything in it now, especially after implementing this NCLT order. You are Dhirubhai Ambani’s son; he was a very sensible person and a great businessman. I learned a lot from him. But it seems you haven’t learned. A person like Subhash Chandra, who has nothing left—why are you teasing him and trying to attack him? I am already empty; I have nothing to lose. You have a lot to lose,” Chandra said.
There was more to come.
“I hope leaders like (PM) Narendra Modi are under your control, or even if they aren’t and you are doing this, I can’t say much. What kind of fight do you want with a person who has nothing left to lose? But it could cause you a lot of damage. I will defend myself if you keep doing these things, and you should understand that you have a lot of skeletons in your closet,” he said, while letting Mukesh Ambani know that the witch-hunt must end.
Reliance swatted aside the allegations.
“The Reliance Group has noted with dismay the baseless remarks by Essel Group chairman Shri Subhash Chandra.
“We strongly deny the allegations and insinuations against the media entities that are a part of the Reliance Group. Our media brands have never been used to attack anyone, nor will they ever be,” the company said in a statement.
There was a line of cordiality too.
“We hold Shri Subhash Chandra in high regard as a businessman and entrepreneur. We wish him well,” the company added.
Also Read:
Vizhinjam tango: Kerala footed the bill—the coast is paying the rest
One Tata project arrives, another slips away: Lessons for Andhra Pradesh
(Edited by R Rajesh Kumar.)
