NEW DELHI: Despite all the show of pelf and power at the recent Ambani wedding, there is one Ambani whose life won't generate much envy. He is burdened with debt, and bankruptcy stares him in the face. His last hope for a resolution of his debt troubles has gone dim. Anil Ambani , the younger son of Reliance Industries founder Dhirubhai Ambani , is in a tight spot, unlike his elder brother Mukesh Ambani , Asia's richest person.A few days ago, it seemed Anil was on his way out of the debt mess. The elder brother's Reliance Jio Infocomm had tried to bail him out by buying assets of Reliance Communication. This would give Anil the money to pay off debt which would stave off bankruptcy proceedings. But the Department of Telecom (DoT) had refused to give a go-ahead to the spectrum sale to the elder brother over the dues RCom had to pay. DoT and RCom were embroiled in a legal battle. On Friday, DoT informed the Supreme Court that it would give its nod to RCom's spectrum sale by Monday morning. DoT told the court that it was conducting its due diligence on the corporate guarantee of Rs 1400 crore provided by Reliance Realty, a unit of RCom, against spectrum dues. The corporate guarantee and a plot of land were provided as security against spectrum-related dues worth Rs 2,947.68 crore.A letter from the elder Ambani's Jio came as a spoiler. Jio’s letter to the DoT, written on Friday, sought assurance from the government that it won’t be held liable for RCom’s past dues related to airwaves. This is not in accordance with the government’s spectrum trading norms, which stipulate the buyer is liable for dues that haven’t been recovered from the seller. That's why DoT said it won't approve their deal to trade airwaves.This brings Anil back to square one. For RCom the DoT approval was crucial because it has already missed its payment deadline of December 15 to Ericsson . Ericsson’s lawyers had told ET earlier that if payment of Rs 550 crore was not made within the scheduled date , the contempt petition and insolvency order would be listed when court reopened in January after the winter break.RCom's total debt stands at Rs 46,000 crore. It needs to pay Rs 550 crore urgently to Ericsson. If it doesn't, insolvency proceedings will start against RCom and Anil Ambani can face a contempt of court case. RCom also needs to pay Rs 232 crore urgently to minority shareholders of Reliance Infratel, including HSBC Daisy Investments.RCom was desperately awaiting DoT’s nod for spectrum sale, post which the company would complete its asset monetisation plan with Jio and Canadian asset management firm Brookfield for Rs 18,000 crore. It has already completed the sale of fibre assets and switching nodes to Jio for Rs 5,000 crore, while spectrum and tower assets to the new telecom entrant are still pending and some land parcels need to be sold to Brookfield.RCom was forced to shut its wireless operations in late 2017 facing huge debt, falling revenue and widening losses. The fall of RCom is part of the long decline at the Reliance Group of Anil Ambani, who broke away from elder brother, Mukesh, in 2006, dividing their father's business empire. Ever since the split, Anil's fortunes have gone down. In 2007, Anil had a net worth of $45 billion, according to the Forbes Rich List. His biggest asset was a 66% stake in telecom venture Reliance Communications . Elder brother Mukesh had a net worth of $49 billion. In the 2018 Forbes India Rich List, Mukesh topped at $47.3 billion while Anil ranked 66th at $2.44 billion. The group companies too reflected this trend. The 10-year compounded annual growth rates (CAGRs) of Mukesh's Reliance industries since the split have been 11.2 (sales), 9.4% (profit) and 17.8% (returns), according to a Bloomberg report. The same rates for Anil's Reliance Group have been 9.4%, -12.6% and -1.7%.When RCom announced last year a debt resolution plan that included selling of its assets, it had come a long way from the dominant position in the market less than a decade ago. In 2010, RCom had a market share of more than 17 per cent and the second position in the telecom segment. By 2016, its market share was less than 10 per cent and it was nowhere among the top firms. As it lost market, its debt piled up. From nearly Rs 25,000 crore in 2009-10, the debt has nearly doubled to Rs 45,000 crore now.The market capitalisation of Anil Ambani’s companies has dwindled to less than $4 billion, while Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries stands at $98.7 billion, according to an FT report.