Mukesh Dhirubhai Ambani is a reputed Indian business magnate who served as chairman and managing director of the Fortune Global 500 company Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) of which he is also the largest shareholder, owning a 44% stake. The company as regarded as the second-most valuable company in India by market value. Its subsidiary, Reliance Retail Ltd is India’s largest retailer. He is also the owner of cricket team in the Indian Premier League franchise, the ‘Mumbai Indians’.
Ambani was ranked by Forbes as the 38th richest man in the world and is the only businessman of Indian origin to ever feature on Forbes’ world’s most powerful people list. Since 2006, Ambani has continued to hold the title of being the richest person in India with his name featuring on the Forbes list for more than 10 consecutive years. Forbes named Ambani as the world’s richest sports owners in the year 2012. The China Hurun Research Institute has ranked Ambani at no. 5 among India’s philanthropists.
Early Life and Education
Ambani was born in Aden, Colony of Aden (now Yemen) on 19 April 1957 as the eldest son of Indian business tycoon Dhirajlal Hirachand “Dhirubhai” Ambani and his wife Kokilaben Ambani and was raised as a Gujarati. He has a younger brother, Anil Ambani, who is also a reputed business magnate in India and two sisters named Nina Kothari and Dipti Salgaoncar. The Ambanis lived in a two-bedroom apartment in Mumbai’s Bhuleshwar until the 1970’s.
Ambani studied at the Hill Grange High School in the posh Peddar Road locality of South Mumbai and later attended the Institute of Chemical Technology(UDCT), Matunga from where he earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Chemical Engineering. Ambani then went to the United States to earn a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from the prestigious Stanford University, California but dropped out and returned to India to help his father build his then small enterprise, Reliance Industries.
Career Rise
Ambani joined his father’s polyester filament yarn (PFY) manufacturing business officially in 1981. He served as the initiator of the backward integration for Reliance’s textiles into polyester fibres as well as for petrochemicals and created 51 world-class manufacturing facilities with diverse technologies that increased the companies’ value manifolds in the process.
In 2002, Ambani set up Reliance Communications Limited (then Reliance Infocomm Limited) with a focus on developing the information and communications technology sector in India. He also created the largest grassroots petroleum refinery in the world, in Jamnagar, Gujarat, India which, in 2010 produced approximately 660,000 barrels per day and was integrated with petrochemicals and power generation. Ambani announced a possible “collaborative venture” along with Bharti Airtel in order to set up the digital infrastructure to facilitate 4G network in India and from 2012-2015 invested 1.8 trillion across his businesses, thus launching 4G broadband services.
Ambani currently serves as the chairman and managing director of RIL. He also served on Bank of America’s Board of Directors. He also held the position of Board chairman for the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore and has won several awards including the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year in 2000, Business Leader of the Year and Global Leadership Award in 2010, and the Millennium Business Leader of the Decade awarded by India Leadership Conclave in 2013.
Trivia
Mukesh ‘s favorite food is South Indian cuisine, with Idli Sambhar being his absolute favorite. He says that he loves visiting Mysore Cafe, a little restaurant in Kings Circle, a place he would frequent during his college days from 1974 to 1979.
Mukesh Ambani – Salary
Ambani has kept his salary and other allowances capped at Rs. 15 crore since 2008, almost leaving out a potential Rs. 24 crore per year. Till 2008, he was the highest paid executive with Rs. 44 crore. The other top executives in the company earn more per year than Mukesh Ambani. He does not even avail of stock options.
Personal Life
Ambani married Nita Ambani (née Dalal) in 1985 and the couple is reckoned as India’s most successful business couple. Together they have three children with Twins Akash and Isha Ambani being their oldest son and daughter, and a younger son named Anant Ambani.
Akash graduated from Brown University with an Economics Degree and currently serves as Reliance Jio Infocomm’s chief of strategy while Isha graduated from Yale Industry with a degree in psychology and is a director at Reliance Retail and Reliance Jio Infocomm.
Mukesh Ambani – Wife Nita Ambani (Photos)
Mukesh Ambani -Nita Ambani love story and wedding pics
Nita Ambani has a middle-class background; she worked as a school teacher before she was married. Nita, who was a trained Bharatnatyam dancer, would perform across various parts of Gujarat. One of her performances in Birla Matoshree, Mumbai, had Dhirubhai Ambani as an audience. He was awestruck by the woman’s perfect dance moves, beauty and exuded a traditional Indian vibe. He asked the organizer about her details, including her contact number.
The very next day, Dhirubhai called Nita’s home and she picked up the call. When she heard that it was Dhirubhai Ambani on the other end of the phone, she laughed and said that she was Elizabeth Taylor. She cut the phone thinking it was a prank call, because she didn’t believe that someone like Dhirubhai Ambani, the famous businessman, would call her.
When Dhirubhai called Nita again, her father Ravindrabhai picked up the phone. He asked his daughter to meet Dhirubhai. When she finally met Dhirubhai, he asked Nita about her education, interests, hobbies, cooking skills and then asked her to come to his house. He clearly told her that he was considering her as his daughter-in-law, Mukesh Ambani’s wife.
When Nita came over to meet Mukesh at the Dhirubhai household, Mukesh opened the door. The two spoke little to each other in Dhirubhai and Kokilaben’s presence and decided to meet somewhere, where they could talk freely.
The two continued to meet and developed feelings for each other. However, Nita was clear that she would like to complete her education before getting married. She wanted to give some thought to her marriage. When they were driving through Peddar Road, Mukesh stopped his car at the traffic signal. When the signal turned Green, Nita asked Mukesh to start the car. Mukesh said that he would only if she would say Yes to his proposal for marriage. Nita said ‘yes’.
Mukesh Ambani – daughter Isha Ambani (Pictures)
Son – Akash Ambani (Photos)
Son – Anant Ambani
Mukesh Ambani – Car Collection
The Ambanis are known for their luxurious lifestyle and own a huge fleet of cars. They have a six -floor garage that can accommodate 168 cars at a time. Some of Ambani’s favourite cars in his huge fleet include a Maybach-62, a BMW 760li Armoured, a Mercedes Benz S Guard, an Aston Martin Rapide, a Bentley Flying Spur, and a Rolls-Royce Phantom.
Mukesh Ambani is the owner of India’s costliest car, the BMW 760Li, the armored vehicle costs a flattering Rs.8.5 crore. The fuel tank has a self-sealing kevlar, which means it is immune against fire. The car has oxygen storage, which can come handy during emergency. The car is designed to be protected against chemical attacks, and can resist high intensity blasts, landmines, military weapons and hand-grenades. The dream is connected to satellite and can be tracked, it has intercom support as well.
The BMW760Li, has VR7 ballistic protection; the windows are 65 mm thick and with a weight of 150 kilograms, are bullet proof. The door panels have kevlar plates for increased protection. Mukesh Ambani’s prized car has powerful wheels, the dual tyres are capable of withstanding bullet attacks. The car can run 80 kilometers per house, 750 Nm optimum torque and a V12 6.0 liter petrol engine designed to produce power of up to 544 BP.
Mukesh Ambani – House Antilia (Inside Pics included)
The Ambanis reside in a private, 27-storey home at Altamount Road, Cumballa Hill, South Mumbai, known as ‘Antilia’. At $2 billion, Antilia is deemed as the most expensive private residential property in the world, after the Buckingham Palace, according to Forbes. It has remained controversial owing to its design and the fact that a single nuclear family resides in it.
The 4,00,000 sq. ft. building located at Atlamount Road in South Mumbai is regal by every stretch of imagination. The building has 27 storeys, but since the storeys are huge, the building stands 570 feet high, reminiscent of a 40-storey building. The house has 9 elevators and six floors in the building is dedicated as a parking space for 168 cars. Antilla is named after the mythical island ‘Antilia’, the mythical Phantom island of the same name.
Antilia has a flooring area of 37,000 m2 (400,000 sq ft) of living space, with a 50-person home-theatre, a garden roof, 9 high-speed elevators, a private car-service centre, an outdoor/indoor bar, an entertainment centre, three helipads, a six-floor garage, a ballroom, a temple, an ice-room to escape the Mumbai heat, an open-air swimming pool and a staff of over 600 full-time members.
Mukesh Ambani – Net Worth
As on January 2018, Mukesh Ambani with a net worth of $43.2 billion is the 18th wealthiest person in the world. He has been the richest person in India ever since 2006