Amity between Ambanis? Anil withdraws slur suit against Mukesh

Only time will tell if the Ambani brothers - two of India's richest industrialists - will actually cease to be at each other's throats in business terms; but in a further sign of reconciliation, younger brother Anil today withdrew a Rs10,000 crore defamation suit against Mukesh in the Bombay High Court.

"Yes, we have withdrawn the suit claiming damages," an Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group spokesman said.

Anil had dragged his brother to court alleging that Mukesh had defamed him in an interview to The New York Times in June 2008 that was reproduced in two leading Indian newspapers. The two newspapers had also been made respondents in the suit.

The withdrawal of the suit comes weeks after the brothers decided to scrap a non-compete agreement between their group companies and pledged to expeditiously renegotiate a gas supply agreement on the lines of the Supreme Court verdict of 7 May.

The Ambanis had parted ways in June 2005, and out of four of the last five years they have been engaged in a legal row over supply of gas from Mukesh-run RIL to the Anil Ambani group's RNRL.

A spokesperson for Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries declined to comment.