Isha Ambani, a non-executive director of Reliance Retail and the daughter of Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani, is one of the most important young business executives in India. She is on the Hurun India 35s list and is one of the richest heirs in the country, with an estimated net worth of over Rs 831 crore.

Isha’s lavish lifestyle is shown by her five-story seaside home in Mumba’s exclusive Worli neighborhood, where she is married to billionaire Anand Piramal. She has a BMW 7-Series, worth around Rs 2 crore, and a Mercedes-Benz S-Class, worth Rs 1.9 crore.

Apart from her own riches, Isha has played a significant role in transforming India’s retail landscape. Through Reliance Retail, she has introduced many global luxury and lifestyle brands to Indian customers, including Burberry, Valentino, Marks & Spencer, Giorgio Armani, Sephora, GAP, and Hamleys.

Shein Faces Challenges in Expanding Its Market in India

The controversial Chinese-origin fashion company Shein has lately returned to India thanks in large part to Isha Ambani. After being banned by the Indian government for five years, Shein is making a resurgence via Ajio, the fashion branch of Reliance Retail.

But the journey back hasn’t been simple. Despite its prior success with stylish and affordable women’s western apparel, Shein is struggling to restore its following in India. By early April, the Shein India app had just 3,311 daily downloads, down from 50,000 in February, according to statistics from the US-based app analytics firm AppMagic.

In comparison to its worldwide counterpart, which boasts a vast AI-powered database of over 600,000 goods, Indian customers have voiced unhappiness with the local app’s limited product selection and higher pricing. Importantly, the relaunched Shein in India no longer sells Chinese-made products directly. Currently managing sourcing, production, distribution, and customer data, Reliance is a more condensed and regionalized version of the brand.

Even while the US-China trade tensions continue to generate headlines throughout the globe, Indian analysts are skeptical about Shein’s long-term development in the highly competitive e-commerce industry, which is controlled by Amazon and Walmart-backed Flipkart, who together control 60% of the market.

Isha Ambani’s bet in Shein is another audacious step in her strategy to expand Reliance’s presence in the fashion retail sector. Although the success of her return is yet uncertain, it does demonstrate her growing influence on the trajectory of India’s consumer markets.