Mukesh Dhirubhai Ambani is a well renowned Indian business mogul. Mr. Ambani is also the Chairperson, MD and largest shareholder of India’s Biggest Company i.e. Reliance Industries Limited. Reliance is a Fortune Global 500 company and also happens to enjoy the highest market value in India.
Mukesh Ambani has a few other claims to fame apart from his professional acumen. Mr. Ambani is one of the Richest people in the world and the Richest Man in India as of 2018.
Was He Born Into Wealth ? How Did He Become So Rich?
When people read about Mukesh Ambani’s successful businesses and his astronomical Net Worth , one thing all of them seem to wonder is how Mukesh Ambani become so rich? Some believe that he was born into wealth. Well the answer is no.
Mukesh Ambani was born to Dhirubhai Ambani (a middle class Indian Business man) in 1957 at Aden, Yemen. Mr. Dhirubhai Ambani was residing in Yemen to establish his business dealing in Indian spices. However he subsequently moved his family back to Mumbai. During the 1970’s Ambani’s family saw a time of struggle and Mukesh Ambani had the life of a normal middle class Indian boy during his studies.
Mukesh Ambani obtained a Bachelors Degree in Chemical Engineering from Institute of Chemical Technology(UDCT), Matunga. Up until that time Mukesh Ambani had not joined his father’s business. After his bachelors degree Mr.Ambani enrolled at Stanford for a Masters Degree in Business Administration. Dhirubhai Ambani on the other hand believed that Degree’s and Academic Performance don’t play significant role in the development of one’s skill. He put more emphasis on real life experiences. Mukesh Ambani was called back to India from Stanford by his father to take over the yarn manufacturing project in his company(Reliance).
Mukesh Ambani’s Business Journey:
Starting Period at Reliance Industries(1980’s):
Initially, Mukesh Ambani was put under the supervision of Rasikbhai Meswani who was the Executive Director of Reliance.He continued to work under Rasikbhai until his death in 1985. A year later Dhirubhai suffered a stroke and all the responsibilities of Reliance were handed down to Mukesh Ambani and his brother Anil. Soon after taking charge of Reliance, Mukesh Ambani launched Reliance Infocomm Ltd. (currently, Reliance Communication Limited). This initiative was taken by Mukesh to set foot into the Information and Technology Industry.
Reliance Petrochemicals(1990’s):
At just 24 years old , Mukesh Ambani was handed over the responsibility for the construction of his father new venture, Patalganga petrochemical plant. At the time Reliance was investing heavily in to the petrochemicals and oil refinery business. Mukesh continued to help build his fathers business during the 1990’s. But was faced with a set back when his father died in 2002 due to a stroke.
Post Dhirubhai Ambani’s Death:
Dhirubhai Ambani’s death gave rise to a feud between Anil Ambani and Mukesh Ambani as Dhirubhai had not left a will behind. The feud started because it was uncertain as to which sibling will take over what part of Dhirubhai’s empire. It was Mukesh Ambani’s mother who intervened into the matter and settled the dispute seeking the help of the Bombay High Court. in December 2005, the Bombay High Court ordered that the business will be split into two parts. Mukesh was handed control of Reliance Industries Limited while Anil Ambani received Indian Petrochemicals Corporation Limited.
Becoming the World’s Richest Man (2005-07)
Soon after gaining control of Reliance Industries Limited, Mukesh Ambani went to work to establish one of the world’s largest grassroots petroleum refinery at Jamnagar, India. This venture saw success and daily production had amounted up to 660,000 barrels per day (33 million tonnes/year) in the year 2010.
Mukesh Ambani had an eye for creating and efficiently leading businesses. By 2007 his wealth had grown to the point that Mukesh Ambani’s Net Worth amounted to 63.2 billion $. At that time Mukesh Ambani’s Net Worth had exceeded the personal wealth’s of Bill Gates and Finance Mogul Warren Buffet.
Mukesh Ambani’s then Net worth of about Rs 2,49,000 crore (Rs 2.49 trillion) came from his business interests. Rs 2,10,000 crore (Rs 2,10 trillion) were added to his net worth from RIL (50.98 % stakeholder), Rs 37,500 crore (Rs 375 billion) from were added to his networth by RPL (37.5%) and Rs 2,100 crore (Rs 21 billion) from RIIL (46.23%).
Telecom Success (2014-18)
His next business success came in 2016 when Mukesh Ambani’s Telecom Network JIO launched a 4G smartphone named LYF. By June, it had become the 3rd largest selling mobile phone brand in India.
As of 2018, Bloomberg estimates Ambani’s personal worth to be enough to run the Indian Governement for almost a whole month. This estimation was made according to Bloomberg’s Robin Hood Index.
Mukesh Ambanis Business Ventures:
Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries owns 123 subsidiary companies and 10 associate companies. A few are named below:
- Reliance Retail:
- Reliance Life Sciences
- Reliance Institute of Life Sciences
- Reliance Logistics
- Reliance Clinical Research Services (RCRS),
- Reliance Solar,
- Relicord
- Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited (RJIL)
- Reliance Industrial Infrastructure Limited (RIIL)
- LYF
- Network 18
- Reliance Eros Productions LLP
Mukesh Ambani’s Net Worth 2018:
According to Forbes Magazine’s India Rich List 2018, Mukesh Ambani is India’s Richest Man for the 11th consecutive year. Mukesh Ambani ‘s Net Worth in 2018 is $47.3 billion or Rs 3,48,934.47 crore.
During 2017-18 Mukesh Ambani earned a whopping Rs. 187.9 Crore everyday.
Currently Mukesh Ambani’s is the World’s 19th Richest Man. His wealth surpasses that of Chinese Business giant Jack Ma. Mukesh Ambani also happens to be the Richest Asian outside of Europe and America.
Forbes Rich List 2018 Top 20:
| #1 | Jeff Bezos | $112 B | 54 | Amazon | United States | |
| #2 | Bill Gates | $90 B | 63 | Microsoft | United States | |
| #3 | Warren Buffett | $84 B | 88 | Berkshire Hathaway | United States | |
| #4 | Bernard Arnault | $72 B | 69 | LVMH | France | |
| #5 | Mark Zuckerberg | $71 B | 34 | United States | ||
| #6 | Amancio Ortega | $70 B | 82 | Zara | Spain | |
| #7 | Carlos Slim Helu | $67.1 B | 78 | telecom | Mexico | |
| #8 | Charles Koch | $60 B | 83 | Koch Industries | United States | |
| #8 | David Koch | $60 B | 78 | Koch Industries | United States | |
| #10 | Larry Ellison | $58.5 B | 74 | software | United States | |
| #11 | Michael Bloomberg | $50 B | 76 | Bloomberg LP | United States | |
| #12 | Larry Page | $48.8 B | 45 | United States | ||
| #13 | Sergey Brin | $47.5 B | 45 | United States | ||
| #14 | Jim Walton | $46.4 B | 70 | Walmart | United States | |
| #15 | S. Robson Walton | $46.2 B | 74 | Walmart | United States | |
| #16 | Alice Walton | $46 B | 69 | Walmart | United States | |
| #17 | Ma Huateng | $45.3 B | 47 | internet media | China | |
| #18 | Francoise Bettencourt Meyers | $42.2 B | 65 | L'Oreal | France | |
| #19 | Mukesh Ambani | $40.1 B | 61 | petrochemicals, oil & gas | India | |
| #20 | Jack Ma | $39 B | 54 | e-commerce | China |
Forbes Magazine: India Rich List 2018 Top 10:
| Name | Net Worth (In $ Billion) | Company | Age |
| Mukesh Ambani | 47.3 | Reliance Industries | 61 |
| Azim Premji | 21 | Wipro | 73 |
| Lakshmi Mittal | 18.3 | ArcelorMittal | 68 |
| Hinduja brothers | 18 | Ashok Leylan | 82 |
| Pallonji Mistry | 15.7 | Shapoorji Pallonji Group | 89 |
| Shiv Nadar | 14.6 | HCL Technologies | 73 |
| Godrej family | 14 | Godrej Group | na |
| Dilip Shanghvi | 12.6 | Sun Pharmaceutical Industries | 63 |
| Kumar Birla | 12.5 | Aditya Birla Group | 67 |
| Gautam Adani | 11.9 | Adani Ports & SEZ | 56 |