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Dhirubhai Ambani Business

Dhirubhai Ambani

Dhirubhai Ambani: "Think big, think fast"

Dhirajlal Hirachand Ambani is not just the usual rags-to-riches story or a Reliance patriarch but will be remembered as the one who rewrote Indian corporate history placing the ordinary investor on the perch and building a truly global corporate group in the country.

Popularly known as Dhirubhai, the 70-year-old Ambani Sr, also changed the rules of the game in the industry in an era when the private sector was hampered by the Licence regime, even if he had attracted criticism that he did not always play fair.
There is also the story of how the Ambanis blocked publication of a biography titled The Polyester Prince written by a foreign writer because they threatened legal action for anything they perceived as defamatory in the book.
Think big" was his refrain and "I am not a loser" was a phrase that epitomised this man behind the Reliance Group which started as a textile manfacturing unit but made its name later as a leading petrochemicals producer diversifying into petroleum refining, telecom and information technology sectors.
Now employing a workforce of 85,000, the group's Rs 25,000 crore integrated Jamnagar refinery complex in Gujarat houses the world's largest greenfield project with a capacity to refine 27 million tonnes of crude every year.
Willpower is something the boy from Chorwad village in Gujarat, who set off for Aden at the age of 17 to seek his fortune and ended up creating a Rs 60,000 crore group, India's largest business house, has in abundance. Venilal Estates Building, 3A, in Mumbai's congested Bhuleshwar, remains the nondescript five-storey chawl—surrounded by saree shops and handcart vendors—that it was in the '60s when the seven-member Ambani clan lived there with a family friend in a tiny one-bedroom flat.

Dhirubhai Ambani
Armed with a Matriculation certificate, he went to Aden only to return with a big idea of owning a petroleum company - used as he was to a job of filling petrol in Shell service station.
He returned to India in 1958 with Rs 50,000 and set up a textile trading company.
The Ambanis moved on. Says elderly Ramchandra Belgaonkar, a tax consultant who lived next door: "They slept on the floor and had no telephone or car...like the rest of us." Anil Ambani was born here.
The Jariwala family's residence was one floor above, and they were among Dhirubhai's first business contacts in the city. "My father had business dealings with Dhirubhai," says Rashmi Jariwala. "We used to import nylon yarn from Europe and Dhirubhai would sell it in the domestic market. But after India started producing the yarn domestically, our business suffered. By then, Dhirubhai had moved on to bigger things. And he's always thought big."
Recollects old-time friend and Congress MP Murli Deora: "We would come to Delhi together on the morning flight and return the same night, taking the cheaper Dakota flight. We saved Rs 120 on airfare and hotel charges. We had an arrangement with Ashoka Hotel—by paying Rs 25 we could keep our briefcases and get messages." It was a dire existence but Ambani chose to excel. "His warm-heartedness has never been in the form of organised, large-scale philanthropy but a spontaneous humility," says Freddie Mehta of Forbes Gokak, an old friend.
His aura hung around the group like a talisman. Indeed, so strong has Dhirubhai's charisma been that investors often overlook the fact that in the last decade, while Dhirubhai was withdrawing from the group, Reliance was growing at a compounded rate of around 35 per cent a year—a feat unparalleled by any other Indian corporate house—and that the Patalganga and Jamnagar projects were built by his sons, Mukesh and Anil.
As news of Dhirubhai's stroke spread, Reliance shares fell but saner voices agreed that it's just a knee-jerk short-term reaction. "It won't last," says a senior investment banker. "The fundamentals are robust and eventually stock prices are decided on fundamentals and not sentiment. The succession plan in the Ambani house seems to be in place and, besides, the organisation is run by professionals. If the price falls, that's the time to in fact buy." "I don't see Reliance suffering a discontinuity," says Krishnamurthy Vijayan, CEO, J.M. Capital Management. "If he passes away, market sentiments will be affected more in terms of a sense of loss rather than a loss on the stock market. "
Says Ambareesh Baliga, V-P, Karvy Stock Broking, "Dhirubhai hasn't built a company, he has built an institution. When a corporate has grown into an institution, it outgrows an individual or the promoter." That is perhaps Dhirubhai's greatest achievement. He created something splendid that he always planned would outgrow him.

Dhirubhai Ambani passed away on Saturday night at 11:15 pm at the Breach Candy hospital in Mumbai.
The Reliance patriarch was admitted to hospital on June 24 after he suffered a cerebral stroke. Subsequently, on June 25, he suffered two heart attacks and since has was on life support system. Ambani's funeral was held in Mumbai on Sunday evening.
Politicians, captains of industry, the film world, down to the ubiquitous common man -- Dhirubhai’s demise has left almost no section of Indian society untouched. The collective outpouring of grief is a measure of the amazing influence that Reliance Industries, the Rs 65,000 crore industrial empire Dhirubhai built single-handedly, commands today.
Thousands thronged to take part in the final journey of one of India’s most famous sons. Those who attended the funeral today ranged from the powerful to the famous, from LK Advani to Amitabh Bachchan.
But what would have really gratified the spirit of Dhirubhai was the overwhelming presence of share-holders and well-wishers whom he always credited to be the force behind his phenomenal success.
Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, while describing Ambani as “an iconic proof of what an ordinary Indian fired by the spirit of enterprise and driven by determination can achieve in his own lifetime,” deputed Minister of State in his office, Vijay Goel to represent him at the funeral today.
The Prime Minister gave Ambani credit for envisioning the creation of world-class capacities in core areas of the nation's infrastructure in the private sector and translating that vision into reality in record time.

Dhirubhai Ambani's Quotes ! Who knows....reading these quotes might create another bunch of Ambanis for the future !

'Secret of my success was to have ambition and know minds of men'

* True entrepreneurship comes only from risk-taking.

* Pursue your goal, even in the face of difficulties. Convert difficulties into opportunities. Keep your morale high, in spite of setbacks. At the end you are bound to succeed.

* My advice to young entrepreneurs is not to accept defeat in the face of odds. Challenge negative forces with hope, self-confidence and conviction. I believe that ambition and initiative will ultimately triumph. The success of the young entrepreneur will be the key to India's transformation in the new millennium.

* Dhirubhai will go one day. But Reliance's employees and shareholders will keep it afloat. Reliance is now a concept in which the Ambanis have become irrelevant.

* I have trusted people and they have put their trust in me. I have encouraged youth, and they have never let me down. I have asked my people to take initiative and to take risks. It has paid me rich dividends. I insist on excellence. This helps us to be leaders. Reliance is built on some of these principles.

* The secret of Reliance's success was to have ambition and to know the minds of men.

* Growth has no limit at Reliance. I keep revising my vision. Only when you dream it you can do it.

'We have lost the habit of thinking big'

* The problem with Indians is that we have lost the habit of thinking big!

* We can prove to the world that India can do it. That Indians are not afraid of competition. That India is a nation of achievers.

* I dream India of becoming a great economic superpower.

* We must forge a new partnership for a great India. A strong and constructive partnership between industry, government and society.

* We must always go for the best. Do not compromise on quality. Reject if it is not the best -- not only the best in India, but globally.

* If India wants to be a great nation, we must have courage to trust. This is my sincere belief.

* All we have to do is to break the shackles that chain the energies of our people, and India's economy will record a quantum leap and move into a new, higher orbit of growth, competitiveness and productivity.

* I can never fully repay the debt I owe to Mumbai. To all of you. My past was shaped in Mumbai.

* For those who dare to dream, there is a whole world to win!

* I am deaf to the word 'no.'

'Ideas are no one's monopoly'

* I am 100 per cent pro-liberalisation. I do not think any industrialist is against it. But we should protect our industries, from unfair competition.

* There is no question about that (retirement). Business is my hobby. It is not a burden to me. In any case Reliance now can run without me.

* I give least importance to being Number one. I consider myself to be fortunate in this position and would like to contribute to nation building in some way.

* Does making money excite me? No, but I have to make money for my shareholders. What excites me is achievement, doing something difficult. In this room extraordinary things must happen.

* Think big, think fast, think ahead. Ideas are no one's monopoly.

* Our dreams have to be bigger. Our ambitions higher. Our commitment deeper. And our efforts greater. This is my dream for Reliance and for India.

* First and foremost, I owe my success and achievements to the affection, friendship and trust of millions of employees, customers, shareholders, and business associates, who have stood by me and been a major source of my strength all along.

* I believe that the success of Reliance cannot be attributed to the qualities and achievements of one individual, or even a group of individuals, but has to be viewed as a triumph of a process, and a spirit that binds the entire Reliance family together.

* I consider myself a pathfinder. I have been excavating the jungle and making the road for others to walk. I like to be the first in everything I do.

* I, as school kid, was a member of the Civil Guard, something like today's NCC. We had to salute our officers who went round in jeeps. So I thought one day I will also ride in a jeep and somebody else will salute me.

* My fulfillment lies in the satisfaction of every member of the Reliance family, comprising thousands of workers, managers, business associates and over five million shareholders. Being instrumental in creating wealth for over 5 million India families, and bringing prosperity and well being to their life is the best source of satisfaction and joy for me.

'You do not require an invitation to make profits'

* Give the youth a proper environment. Motivate them. Extend them the support they need. Each one of them has infinite source of energy. They will deliver.

* You do not require an invitation to make profits.

* If you work with determination and with perfection, success will follow.

* Between my past, the present and the future, there is one common factor: Relationship and Trust. This is the foundation of our growth.

* We bet on people.

* Meeting the deadlines is not good enough, beating the deadlines is my expectation.

* Don't give up, courage is my conviction.

* We cannot change our rulers, but we can change the way they rule us.

* Roll up your sleeves and help. You and your team share the same DNA.

* Be a safety net for your team.

* Always be the silent benefactor. Don't tom-tom about how you helped someone.

* Dream big, but dream with your eyes open.

* Leave the professional alone!

* Change your orbit, constantly!

* Money is not a product by itself, it is a by-product, so don't chase it.

Biography of Dhirubhai Ambani

January 6, 2007 · Filed under Dhirubhai Ambani

Dhirubhai Ambani

(1) Early life Dhirajlal Hirachand Ambani was born on 28 December 1932 , at Chorwad, Junagadh in the state of Gujarat , India , into a Modh family of very moderate means. He was the third son of a school teacher. When he was 16 years old, he moved to Aden ,Yemen . Initially Dhirubahi worked as a despatch clerk with A. Besse & Co.. Two years later A. Besse & Co. became distributor for Shell products and Dhirubhai was promoted to manage the company’s oil-filling station at the port of Aden. He was married to Kokilaben and had two sons and two daughters.

(2) Life in Aden In the 1950s the Yemini administration realized that their main unit of currency Rial was in disappearing. After investigating the matter it was realized that all Rials were routed to the Port City of Aden. There a young man in twenties was placing unlimited buy orders of Yemini Rials. During those days the Yemini Rial was a pure silver coin and was much in demand at the London Bullion Exchange. Young Dhirubhai would buy Rial, melt it in pure silver and sell it to bullion traders in London . In the later part of his life while talking to reporters it is believed that he said “The margins were small but it was money for jam. After three months, it was stopped. But I made a few lakh of rupees. I don’t believe in not taking opportunities.”

(3) Reliance Commercial Corporation Ten years later, Dhirubai returned to India and started a business Reliance Commercial Corporation with a capital of Rs. 15000.00 (US$ 375). The primary business of Reliance Commercial Corporation was import polyester yarn and export spices. The business was setup in partnership with Chambaklal Damani , his second cousin who was also there with him in Aden , Yemen . The first office of Reliance Commercial Corporation was set up at Narsinathan Street at Masjid Bunder . It was a 350 Sq. Ft. room with a telephone, one table and three chairs. Initially they had two assistants to help them in their business. In 1965 Chambaklal Damani and Dhirubhai Ambani ended their partnership and Dhirubhai started on his own. It is believed that both had different tempermants and a different take on business, while Mr. Damani was a cautious trader and did not believe in building Yarn inventories, Dhirubhai was a known risk taker and he considered that buliding inventories with anticipating a price rise and making some profit is good for growth. During this period Dhirubahi and his family used to stay in an one bedroom apatment in Jaihind Estate in Bhuleshwar. In 1968 he moved from the chawl to an upmarket apartment at Altamount Road in South Mumbai. His first car was Premier Padmini , the Indian version of Fiat 1100 , later he brought a Mercedez-Benz Car . In 1970s he brought a white Cadillac Car.

(3) Reliance Textiles Sensing good opportunity in the business of textiles, Dhirubhai started his first textile mill at Naroda , near Ahmedabad in the year 1966 . Textiles were manufactured using polyester fibre yarn. Dhirubhai started the brand “Vimal”, which was named after his elder brother Ramaniklal Ambani’s son Vimal Ambani. Externsive marketing of the brand “Vimal” in the interiors of India made it a household name. Franchise retail outlets were started that used to sell only “Vimal” brand of textiles. In the year 1975 a Technical team from the World Bank visited Reliance Textiles’ Manufacturing unit. This unit has the rare distinction of being certified as “excellent even by developed country standards” in that period.

(4) Initial Public Offering Dhirubhai Ambani is credited with starting the equity cult in India. More than 58,000 investors from various parts of India subscribed to Reliance’s IPO in 1977. Dhirubhai was able to convince people of rural Gujrat that being shareholders of his company will only bring returns to their investment. Reliance Industries holds the distinction that it is the only Public Limited Company whose several Annual General Meetings were held in stadiums . In 1986, The Annual General Meeting of Relaince Industries was held in Cross Maidan, Mumbai, was attended by more than 30,000 shareholders.

(5) Dhirubhai’s Control Over Stock Exchanges In 1982 Reliance Industries was coming up with a rights issue of partly convertible debentures. It was rumored that the company is making all efforts to ensure that the stock prices did not slide a inch. Sensing an opportunity a bear cartel which was a group of stock brokers from Calcutta started to short sell the shares of Reliance. To counter this a group of stock brokers till recently referred as “Friends of Reliance” started to buy the short sold shares of Reliance Industries on Bombay Stock Exchange . The Bear Cartel was acting with a belief that the Bulls will be short of cash to complete the transaction and would be ready for settlement under the “Badla” trading system prevalent in Bombay Stock Exchange during those days. The bulls kept on buying and a price of Rs. 152 per share was maintained till the day of settlement. On the day of settlement the Bear Cartel was taken a back when the Bulls demanded a physical delivery of shares. To complete the transaction the much needed cash was provided to the stock brokers who had brought shares of Reliance by none other than Dhirubhai Ambani. In case of non-settlement the Bulls demanded an “Unbadla” (penalty sum) of Rs. 35 per share. With this the demand increased and the shares of Reliance shot above 180 rupees in minutes. The settlement caused enormous uproar in the market and Dhirubhai Ambani was the unquestioned king of the stock markets. He proved to his detractors as to how dangerous it is to play with Reliance. The situation was completely out of control. To get a solution for this situation the Bombay Stock Exchange was closed for three business days. Authorities of Bombay Stock Exchange intervened in the matter and brought down the “Unbadla” rate to Rs. 2 with a stipulation that the Bear Cartel has to give the delivery of shares within few days. The Bear Cartel brought shares of Reliance from the market at higher price levels and it was also realized that Dhirubhai Ambani himself supplied those shares to the Bear Cartel and earned a healthy profit out of The Bear Cartel’s adventure After this incident many questions were raised by his detractors and the press. Not many people were able to understand as to how a yarn trader till a few years ago was able to get in so much of cash flow during the crisis. The answer to this was provided by then finance minster Pranab Mukherjee ] in the parliament. He informed the house that Non-Resident Indian had invested upto Rs. 220 Million in Reliance during 1982-83. These investments were routed through many companies like Crocodile, Lota and Fiasco. These companies were primarily registered in Isle of Man . The interesting factor was all the promoters or owners of these companies had a common surname Shah . An investigation by the Reserve Bank of India in the incident did not find any unethical or illegal acts or transactions committed by Reliance or its promoters.

(6) Diversification Over time his business has diversified into a core specialisation in petrochemicals with additional interests in telecommunications , information technology , energy , power , retail , textiles , infrastructure services, capital markets , and logistics . The company as a whole was described by the BBC as “a business empire with an estimated annual turnover of $12bn, and an 85,000-strong workforce”.

(7) Criticism Despite his almost Midas Touch, Ambani has known to have flexible values and an unethical streak running through him. His biographer himself has cited some instances of his unethical behavior when he was just an ordinary employee at a petrol pump in Dubai. He has also been known to have links with the V P Singh government and later the BJP government. He has been accused of having manipulated government policies to suit his own need, and has been known to be a king-maker in government elections. Although most media sources tend to speak out about business-politics nexus, the Ambani house has always enjoyed more protection and shelter from the media storms that sweep across the country.

(8) Unauthorized Biography Hamish McDonald, who was the Delhi bureau chief for the Far Eastern Economic Review for several years, published an unauthorised biography of Ambani in 1998 in which both his achievements and shortcomings were reported, but the Ambanis threatened legal action if the book was published in India.

(9) Death Dhirubhai Ambani was admitted to the Breach Candy Hospital in Mumbai on June 24 , 2002 due to a major “brain stroke” suffered by him. This was the second stroke, the first one had occurred in the year February 1986 and had kept his right hand paralyzed. He was in a state of coma for more than week. A battery of highly efficient doctors were unable to save his life. He breathed his last on July 6 , 2002 , at around 11:50 P.M.(Indian Standard Time). His funeral procession was not only attended by business people, politicians and celebrities but also by thousands of ordinary people. His elder son Mukesh Ambani performed the last rites as per the Hindu traditions. He was cremated at the Chandanwadi Crematorium in Mumbai at around 4:30 PM (Indian Standard Time) on July 7 , 2002 . He is survived by Kokilaben Ambani, his wife, two sons, Mukesh Ambani and Anil Ambani , and two daughters, Nina Kothari and Deepti Salgaocar .

(10) Film A film inspired by the life of Dhirubhai is set to release in January 2007. The Hindi Film Guru , directed by Mani Ratnam and music by A.R.Rahman will show the struggle of a man who strives to make his mark in life. The movie stars Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai in leading roles

(11) Awards and Recognitions November 2000 – Conferred ‘Man of the Century’ award by Chemtech Foundation and Chemical Engineering World in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the growth and development of the chemical industry in India 2000 , 1998 and 1996 – Featured among ‘Power 50 – the most powerful people in Asia by Asiaweek magazine. June 1998 – Dean’s Medal by The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania , for setting an outstanding example of leadership. August 2001 – The Economic Times Award for Corporate Excellence for Lifetime Achievement Dhirubhai Ambani was named the Man of 20th Century by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). A poll conducted by The Times of India in 2000 voted him “Greatest Creator of Wealth In The Century”.

(12) Famous Quotes From beginning Dhirubhai was seen in high-regard. His success in the petro-chemical business and his story of rags to riches made him a cult figure in the minds of Indian people. As a quality of business leader he was also a motivator. He gave very less of public speeches but the words he has spoken are still remembered for their value. “Growth has no limit at Reliance. I keep revising my vision. Only when you dream it you can do it.” “Think big, think fast, think ahead. Ideas are no one’s monopoly” “Our dreams have to be bigger. Our ambitions higher. Our commitment deeper. And our efforts greater. This is my dream for Reliance and for India.” “You do not require an invitation to make profits.” “If you work with determination and with perfection, success will follow.” “Pursue your goals even in the face of difficulties, and convert adversities into opportunities.” “Give the youth a proper environment. Motivate them. Extend them the support they need. Each one of them has infinite source of energy. They will deliver.” “Between my past, the present and the future, there is one common factor: Relationship and Trust. This is the foundation of our growth” “We bet on people.” “Meeting the deadlines is not good enough, beating the deadlines is my expectation.” “Don’t give up, courage is my conviction.”

”Think big, think fast, think ahead , ideas are no one’s monopoly”

“Our dream have to be bigger. Our ambitions higher. Our commitments depper. And our efforts greater. This is my dream for Reliance an for India.”

Growth through Vision

“Growth has no limit at Reliance. I keep revising my vision.
Only when you can dream it, you can do it.”

“Between my past, the present and the future, there is one common factor: Relationship and Trust. This is the foundation of our growth.”

- Dhirubhai H. Ambani
Founder Chairman

Born of a village schoolteacher on 28-12-1932, in the village of Chorvad, in Junagadh, Dhirajlal Hirachand Ambani is perhaps one the finest examples of the synchronicity of numbers.

His phenomenal rise from selling ‘Bhajias to pilgrims in Mount Girnar on weekends’ to being a Shell Service Station worker in Aden (Yemen) to being India’s first Corporate Icon whose Group asset’s today stand to over the tune of 520 billion, is truly a spectacular rags to riches story.

Here’s a look at how numbers controlled his fate (Do you have anything in common?):

– Psychic Number: 1, 28th=2+8=10=1
– Destiny Number: 1, 28-12-1932= 2+8+1+2+1+9+3+2=28=2+8=10=1
– Number 1 is ruled by the SUN who finds his exaltation in Aries, ruled Mars (9)
– Note: The compounds of his psychic number and his destiny number, both are 28
– Name Number: 8/17 Dhirajlal Hirachand Ambani 5/14 Dhirubhai Ambani
– Sun Sign: Capricorn
– Ruling Planet: (8) Saturn
When Misfortune Hit Him
1st stroke: 6 (in 1986=1+9+8+6=24=2+4=6)
2nd stroke: 6 (on 24th June 2002)
On Monday: 2 (number of Monday)
Expired On: 8 (Saturday night, Saturday is ruled by Saturn-8)
Time Of Expiry : 1 (23.50 pm=2+3+5+0=10=1, same number as his psychic and destiny number 1, ruled by the Sun)
Funeral At: 1 (16.30 pm=1+6+3+0=10=1)
On Sunday: 1 (Number of Sunday)
Died On: 6 July 2002
Full Date: 8 (6-7-2002=6+7+2+0+0+2=17=1+7=8)

In the sign of 2
Cancer is ruled by the Moon and the month of July also ruled by the Moon (2)
Saturn (8) is exalted in Libra, ruled by Venus (6)
Venus (6) is exalted in Pisces, ruled by Jupiter (3)
Jupiter is exalted in Cancer, ruled by the Moon (2)
The Moon is exalted in Taurus, ruled by Venus (6)
Capricorn is the opposite sign to Cancer in the Zodiac

2002 was 8: Personal Year for him. DOB+MOB+CURRENT YEAR.
2002 was 4: Current Year (Common)
Birth Force: 6: Year of Birth=1932=1+9+3+2=15=1+5=6.
4th Pinnacle: 9: began at age 54 in the year 1986
Personal Year: 1, 1986 was personal year number 1 for him, derived from the total of his date of birth + month of birth + current year – 2+8+1+2+1+9+8+6=37=10=1
Age 54: 9, (5+4=9)
54 in year: 6, 1986=1+9+8+6=24=2+4=6. (Year of 1st Stroke)
Total of period 9: Personal Year+ Current Year +Birth Force=8+4+6=18=9
Age of Death: 6: He was 69 years old, 6+9=15=1+5=6

Magical Facts About How Numbers Affected Him
Thus,
Numbers that played key-roles in his life were 1, 6, 8 and 9. 1+6+8+9=24=2+4=6
In this entire numero-graph there are some very relevant points to note:
His psychic number as well as his destiny number was 1, this gave him the unparallel qualities of ‘leadership’ and a dynamic personality.
His name at birth was Dhirajlal Hirachand Ambani, which is an 8; perhaps he would not have achieved this phenomenal success with this name because 8, as a name-number is not fortunate for anyone, leave aside a psychic and destiny 1 for whom it is the very worst.
The only name that he is known as is Dhirubhai Ambani and this is a number 5, number of the ‘quick silver planet of Mercury’. Whether his fortunate destiny guided him to choose this name unintentionally or whether he was advised to go by it, I do not know, but the 5-name number is the one that gave him the universal growth, renown and power of communication.

Number 1 and 6 have sparred from the beginning of time.
Look at the recurrences of numbers.

Stop...think...his birth as well as his death was under the influence of the Sun, on dates and time making number 1.
All the unfortunate events that lead to his demise took place on the 6th of a month.
He finally left this planet on the number of ‘ Moksha ’, number 9 that was the number of his last ‘pinnacle’ at an age that made the single number of 6.
The full date of his death was number 8.
When his enemy number 6 came together with the number of his last pinnacle 9, he died on a date making the number of death and resurrection, number 8 at a time, date and day under the influence of the Sun, the number of his birth as well as his destiny, number 1 at the age of 69, which makes the single number 6.
At this time (year 2002) he had already entered his last birth force number that was number 6 and the year 2002 was personal year number 8 for him. (Personal year=DOB + MOB + Current year).
He suffered his first stroke in personal year number 1 and his last fatal one in personal year number 8.

It is said by the ‘ancients’ that life begins at the Sun (number 1) and ends at Saturn (number 8), and this is exactly what happened with Mr Dhirubhai Ambani. Those who leave ‘Station Earth’ on the last number of 9 are due for retirement, which means, they are free from the soul exhausting cycles of life and death and from all ‘Karmas’. Then again, it depends whether or not you have earned your salvation or abused your opportunity achieved after many births. For those who abuse, there is no Moksha, but a return to the lowest rung of life.

I can safely state that Dhirubhai earned his salvation and will never be reborn again for he was a good man.

Dhirubhai Ambani - A business Tycoon and Founder of Reliance Industries

Dhirajlal Hirachand Ambani, one of the leading Indian businessmen, was born on December 28, 1932 in Chorwad, Gujarat. Popularly known as Dhirubhai Ambani, he heads The Reliance Industries, India's largest private enterprise.

Dhirubhai started off as a small time worker with Arab merchants in the 1950s and moved to Mumbai in 1958 to start his own business in spices. After making modest profits, he moved into textiles and opened his mill near Ahmedabad. Dhirubhai founded Reliance Industries in 1958. After that it was a saga of expansions and successes.

Reliance, acknowledged as one of the best-run companies in the world has various sectors like petrochemicals, textiles and is involved in the production of crude oil and gas, to polyester and polymer products. The companies refinery at Jamnagar accounts for over 25% of India's total refining capacity and their plant at Hazira is the biggest chemical complex in India. The company has further diversified into Telecom, Insurance and Internet Businesses, the Power Sector and so on. Now the Reliance group with over 85,000 employees provides almost 5% of the Central Government's total revenue.

Dhirubhai has been one among the select Forbes billionaires and has also figured in the Sunday Times list of top 50 businessmen in Asia. His industrious nature and willingness to take on any risk has made him what he is. In 1986 after a heart attack he has handed over his empire to his two sons Mukesh and Anil. His sons are carrying on the successful tradition of their illustrious father.

Early Life

Dhirubhai Ambani was born on 28 December 1932 at Kukaswada near Chorwad, Junagadh (now the state of Gujarat, India) to Hirachand Gordhanbhai Ambani and Jamnaben in a Modh Bania family of modest means. He was the second son of a school teacher. He was always honest in every action thoughout his life. When he was 16 years old, he moved to Aden, Yemen. He worked with A. Besse & Co. for a salary of Rs.300. Two years later, A. Besse & Co. became the distributors for Shell products, and Dhirubhai was promoted to manage the company’s filling station at the port of Aden.

He was married to Kokilaben and had two sons, Mukesh and Anil, and two daughters, Nita Kothari and Rina Salgaonkar.

Life in Aden

Kokilaben and Dhirubhai Ambani, In the 1950s, the Yemini administration realized that their main unit of currency, the Rial, was disappearing fast. Upon launching an investigation, they realized that a lot of Rials were being routed to the Port City of Aden. It was found that a young man in his twenties was placing unlimited buy orders for Yemini Rials.

During those days, the Yemini Rial was made of pure silver coins and was in much demand at the London Bullion Exchange. Young Dhirubhai bought the Rials, melted them into pure silver and sold it to the bullion traders in London. During the latter part of his life, while talking to reporters, it is believed that he said “The margins were small but it was money for jam. After three months, it was stopped. But I made a few lakhs. In short, I was a manipulator. A very good manipulator. But I don’t believe in not taking opportunities.

Reliance Commercial Corporation

In 1962, Dhirubhai returned to India and started Reliance.Reliance was to import polyester yarn and export spices.

The business was setup in partnership with Champaklal Damani, his second cousin, who used to be with him in Aden, Yemen. The first office of the Reliance Commercial Corporation was set up at the Narsinatha Street in Masjid Bunder. It was 350 sq ft (33 m2). room with a telephone, one table and three chairs. Initially, they had two assistants to help them with their business. In 1965, Champaklal Damani and Dhirubhai Ambani ended their partnership and Dhirubhai started on his own. It is believed that both had different temperaments and a different take on how to conduct business. While Mr. Damani was a cautious trader and did not believe in building yarn inventories, Dhirubhai was a known risk taker and he believed in building inventories, anticipating a price rise, and making profits. In 1968, he moved to an upmarket apartment at Altamount Road in South Mumbai. Ambani's net worth was estimated at about Rs.10 lakh by late 1970s.

Asia Times quotes: "His people skills were legendary. A former secretary reveals: "He was very helpful. He followed an 'open-door' policy. Employees could walk into his cabin and discuss their problems with him." The chairman had a special way of dealing with different groups of people, be they employees, shareholders, journalists or government officials. Ambani's competitors allege that he bought off officials and had legislation re-written to suit him. They recall his earlier days and how he picked up the art of profiteering from the then-Byzantine system of controls of Indian officialdom. He exported spices, often at a loss, and used replenishment licenses to import rayon. Later, when rayon started to be manufactured in India, he exported rayon, again at a loss, and imported nylon. Ambani was always a step ahead of the competitors. With the imported items being heavily in demand, his profit margins were rarely under 300 percent."

Reliance Textiles : Sensing a good opportunity in the textile business, Dhirubhai started his first textile mill at Naroda, in Ahmedabad in the year 1977. Textiles were manufactured using polyester fibre yarn. Dhirubhai started the brand "Vimal", which was named after his elder brother Ramaniklal Ambani's son, Vimal Ambani. Extensive marketing of the brand "Vimal" in the interiors of India made it a household name. Franchise retail outlets were started and they used to sell "only Vimal" brand of textiles. In the year 1975, a Technical team from the World Bank visited the Reliance Textiles' Manufacturing unit. This unit has the rare distinction of being certified as "excellent even by developed country standards" during that period.

Initial Public Offering (IPO)

Dhirubhai Ambani is credited with starting the equity cult in India. More than 58,000 investors from various parts of India subscribed to Reliance's IPO in 1977. Dhirubhai was able to convince large number of small investors from rural Gujarat that being shareholders of his company would be profitable.

Reliance Industries was the first private sector company whose Annual General Meetings were held in stadiums. In 1986, The Annual General Meeting of Reliance Industries was held in Cross Maidan, Mumbai and was attended by more than 35,000 shareholders and the Reliance family.

Dhirubhai managed to convince a large number of first-time retail investors to invest in Reliance.

Ambani's net worth was estimated at about Rs.1 billion by early 1980s.

Dhirubhai's control over Stock Exchanges

In 1982, Reliance Industries came up against a rights issue regarding partly convertible debentures. It was rumored that company was making all efforts to ensure that their stock prices did not slide an inch. Sensing an opportunity, a bear cartel which was a group of stock brokers from Calcutta started to short sell the shares of Reliance. To counter this, a group of stock brokers till recently referred to as "Friends of Reliance" started to buy the short sold shares of Reliance Industries on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

The Bear Cartel was acting on the belief that the Bulls would be short of cash to complete the transactions and would be ready for settlement under the "Badla" trading system operative in the Bombay Stock Exchange. The bulls kept on buying and a price of Rs. 152 per share was maintained till the day of settlement. On the day of settlement, the Bear Cartel was taken aback when the Bulls demanded a physical delivery of shares. To complete the transaction, the much needed cash was provided to the stock brokers who had bought shares of Reliance, by none other than Dhirubhai Ambani. In the case of non-settlement, the Bulls demanded an "Unbadla" (a penalty sum) of Rs. 35 per share. With this, the demand increased and the shares of Reliance shot above 180 rupees in minutes. The settlement caused an enormous uproar in the market and Dhirubhai Ambani was the unquestioned king of the stock markets. He proved to his detractors just how dangerous it was to play with Reliance.

To find a solution to this situation, the Bombay Stock Exchange was closed for three business days. Authorities from the Bombay Stock Exchange(BSE) intervened in the matter and brought down the "Unbadla" rate to Rs. 2 with a stipulation that the Bear Cartel had to deliver the shares within the next few days. The Bear Cartel bought shares of Reliance from the market at higher price levels and it was also learnt that Dhirubhai Ambani himself supplied those shares to the Bear Cartel and earned a healthy profit out of The Bear Cartel's adventure.

After this incident, many questions were raised by his detractors and the press. Not many people were able to understand as to how a yarn trader till a few years ago was able to get in such a huge amount of cash flow during a crisis period. The answer to this was provided by the then finance minister, Pranab Mukherjee in the parliament. He informed the house that a Non-Resident Indian had invested up to Rs. 22 Crore in Reliance during 1982-83. These investments were routed through many companies like Crocodile, Lota and Fiasco. These companies were primarily registered in Isle of Man. The interesting factor was that all the promoters or owners of these companies had a common surname Shah. An investigation by the Reserve Bank of India in the incident did not find any unethical or illegal acts or transactions committed by Reliance or its promoters.

Diversifications

Over time, Dhirubhai diversified his business with the core specialisation being in petrochemicals and additional interests in telecommunications, information technology, energy, power, retail, textiles, infrastructure services, capital markets, and logistics. The company as a whole was described by the BBC as "a business empire with an estimated annual turnover of $12bn, and an 85,000-strong workforce".

Criticism

He has been accused of acting unethically, having manipulated government policies to suit his own needs, and has been known to be a king-maker in government elections. Although most media sources tend to speak out about business-politics nexus, the Ambani house has always enjoyed more protection and shelter from the media storms that sweep across the country.

Death

Dhirubhai Ambani was admitted to the Breach Candy Hospital in Mumbai on June 24, 2002 after he suffered a major stroke. This was his second stroke, the first one had occurred in February 1986 and had kept his right hand paralyzed. He was in a state of coma for more than a week. A battery of doctors were unable to save his life. He died on July 6, 2002, at around 11:50 P.M. (Indian Standard Time).

His funeral procession was not only attended by business people, politicians and celebrities but also by thousands of ordinary people. His elder son, Mukesh Ambani, performed the last rites as per Hindu traditions. He was cremated at the Chandanwadi Crematorium in Mumbai at around 4:30 PM (Indian Standard Time) on July 7, 2002.

He is survived by Kokilaben Ambani, his wife, two sons, Mukesh Ambani and Anil Ambani, and two daughters, Nina Kothari and Deepti Salgaonkar.

Dhirubhai Ambani started his long journey in Bombay from the Mulji-Jetha Textile Market, where he started as a small-trader. As a mark of respect to this great businessman, The Mumbai Textile Merchants' decided to keep the market closed on July 8, 2002. At the time of Dhirubhai's death, Reliance Group had a gross turnover of Rs. 75,000 Crore or USD $ 15 Billion. In 1976-77, the Reliance group had an annual turnover of Rs 70 crore and it is to be remembered that Dhirubhai had started the business with just Rs.15,000(US$350)

Reliance after Dhirubhai

In November 2004, Mukesh Ambani in an interview, admitted to having differences with his brother Anil over 'ownership issues.' He also said that the differences "are in the private domain." He was of the opinion that this will not have any bearing on the functioning of the company saying Reliance is one of the strongest professionally-managed companies. Considering the importance of Reliance Industries to the Indian economy, this issue got an extensive coverage in the media.

Kundapur Vaman Kamath, the Managing Director of ICICI Bank was seen in media, a close friend of the Ambani family who helped to settle the issue. The brothers had entrusted their mother, Kokilaben Ambani, to resolve the issue. On June 18, 2005, Kokilaben Ambani announced the settlement through a press release.

The Reliance empire was split between the Ambani brothers, Mukesh Ambani getting RIL and IPCL & his younger sibling Anil Ambani heading Reliance Capital, Reliance Energy and Reliance Infocomm. The entity headed by Mukesh Ambani is referred to as the Reliance Industries Limited whereas Anil's Group has been renamed Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG)

Awards and Recognitions

* November 2000 – Conferred 'Man of the Century' award by Chemtech Foundation and Chemical Engineering World in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the growth and development of the chemical industry in India
* 2000, 1998 and 1996 – Featured among 'Power 50 - the most powerful people in Asia by Asiaweek magazine.
* June 1998 - Dean's Medal by The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, for setting an outstanding example of leadership. Dhirubhai Ambani has the rare distinction of being the first Indian to get Wharton School Dean's Medal
* August 2001 – The Economic Times Award for Corporate Excellence for Lifetime Achievement
* Dhirubhai Ambani was named the Man of 20th Century by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).
* A poll conducted by The Times of India in 2000 voted Him "Greatest Creator of Wealth In The Centuries". He is the true son of India'.

Guru Inspired by Dhirubhai Ambani

A film alleged to be inspired by the life of Dhirubhai Ambani was released on 12 January 2007. The Hindi Film Guru (2007 film), with direction by Mani Ratnam, cinematography by Rajiv Menon and music by A.R.Rahman shows the struggle of a man striving to make his mark in the Indian business world with a fictional Shakti Group of Industries. The film stars Abhishek Bacchan, Mithun Chakraborty, Aishwarya Rai, Madhavan and Vidya Balan. In the film, Abhishek Bachchan plays Guru Kant Desai,a character implicitly based on Dhirubhai Ambani. Mithun Chakraborty portrays Manikda who bears an uncanny resemblance to the real life Ramanath Goenka and Madhvan portrays S. Gurumurthy, who twenty years ago, gained national fame, spearheading virulent attacks against the Reliance group in one of India's bloodiest corporate wars ever. The film also portrays the strength of Dhirubhai Ambani with the help of the character of Guru Kant Desai. "GURUBHAI" the name given to Abhishek Bachchan is also similar to the original name "DHIRUBHAI."

Only Vimal. Only Dhirubhai.

One of the most fascinating anecdotes I have heard relates to Vimal, Dhirubhai Ambani and brand building. And it is perhaps more relevant today, than in 1987 when it was first heard. Dhirubhai Ambani, in the mid eighties used to actually decide on advertising campaigns (it was only later that he began deciding who would be king). Dhirubhai as the anecdote goes, was briefing the ad agency. And he said, "Only Vimal has the most sophisticated plant." "Only Vimal uses merino wool". "Only Vimal has the most designs". Only Vimal.... And very soon, a bright (or is it lazy) copywriter came back with the tagline "Only Vimal" which Dhirubhai bought.
And the rest as they say, is history. This anecdote holds a few lessons for today's brand managers.

- You can analyze till the cows come home but at the end of the day,
you must take a decision.
- Once you take a decision, stay with it. Don't vacillate or chop and change.
- Think long term. Think consistency. Vimal has stayed with the same tagline for close to twenty years. The models used have been different, the executions have been different, the music scores have been different, the settings have been different and yet, the signature line "Only Vimal" has been the same. Crores of rupees have been invested on this line, year after year. This line has become a brand property.

Are you throwing the baby out with the bath water?

Advertising agencies have been trained to think (and at times dress) differently. They are trained to "come to the edge" and "push the envelope" to the hilt, if you will. And how do you become different? You change. Sometimes for worse.

Every brand has certain properties. IBM has blue. Titan has its signature tune, Britannia has its "ting-ting-ta-ding" and Liril has its girl in the water. This is probably what people will recall of these brands if you ask them what they can recall of the brand.

So the task of the brand manager and the advertising agency becomes very critical....

Dhirubhai Ambani

Founder of an Indian industrial empire

Dhirajlal Hirachand Ambani, businessman: born Chorwad, India 28 December 1932; married (two sons, two daughters); died Bombay 6 July 2002.

Like many first generation taipans, Dhirubhai Ambani's meteoric rise from a petrol pump attendant in Yemen in the late 1940s to India's foremost industrialist, heading a business empire worth over $12.5bn, was paved with an intricate web of political patronage, deceit and corruption. But it was fired by Ambani's unmatched hunger and fierce entrepreneurial drive and skills that drove him to build Reliance Industries which includes the world's fifth largest refinery – but the largest greenfield plant ever – and hugely profitable textile mills, all located in his native western India.

Forty-five years after setting up a small trading business in the country's financial capital, Bombay, in a room not big enough to accommodate more than four people at a time, Ambani's Reliance Industries became India's first Fortune 500 private sector company. It accounts for around 30 per cent of the total profit of all private Indian companies and for five per cent of all exports, manufactures three per cent of the country's Gross Domestic Product and contributes 10 per cent to the state's indirect tax revenues. "The problem with Indians," Ambani said once, whilst tirelessly building up his businesses, "is that we have lost the habit of thinking big".

Ambani – better known simply as Dhirubhai – also created an investors revolution by bringing the stock markets within the common man's reach after Reliance Industries began its spate of public and special rights issues in the late 1970s.

In the history of the Indian market, there are two distinct eras: before and after Ambani. In the former, the wealthy and market-savvy rich folk invested in gold, land and blue chip shares. But after Reliance Industries went public in 1978 all that changed, giving birth to millions of middle-class investors who never regretted buying into the Ambani dream.

Few of them knew, understood or even cared about the intricate and vicious duels that raged between the market bulls and bears. But they certainly knew what the Reliance scrip represented – funds for education, a wedding, a hospital bill, a long desired overseas vacation and above all, security. For two generations of Indians, owning Reliance stock was even better than money in the bank – it always kept pace with inflation.

He was born Dhirajlal Hirachand Ambani in 1932 in Chorwad, a small town in western Gujarat state, the son of a poor schoolmaster. In 1949, after basic schooling, he followed his older brother to Aden in Yemen to work as a pump attendant with Shell where he first exhibited his risk-taking abilities. Soon after Ambani's arrival in Aden, the Yemeni administration discovered that its currency, the silver rial, was fast disappearing from the market. Investigations revealed that Ambani was melting down the silver coins and selling the ingots to bullion dealers in London. "The margins were small, but it was money for jam. After three months, it was stopped. But I made a few lakhs [a hundred thousand rupees]. I don't believe in not taking opportunities," he told an interviewer.

In 1959, a year after returning to Bombay, Ambani set up Reliance Commercial Corporation, a trading house exporting spices and fabrics in partnership with a cousin, with a small capital of 15,000 rupees. Their 350-sq-ft, one-roomed office in Bombay's crowded Masjid Bunder area had a telephone, one table and three chairs; if the two partners and their two employees were all present, one of them had to move to the teashop outside in the corridor.

Through creative business practices Ambani made enough money to start a cloth mill in Gujarat's largest city, Ahmedabad, in 1966 and 13 years later Reliance went public attracting 58,000 investors. In the early 1980s, Ambani, by now a moderately successful businessman, was patronised by the prime minister Indira Gandhi who, after a bruising political fight declared that she needed her "own" set of reliable businessmen. India was still a command economy, with all business controlled by the "licence raj" of political patronage and Ambani, being the favoured one, prospered beyond imagination.

In 1993, after a series of gruelling political and financial battles, Ambani moved into the petrochemical industry and in 2000 Reliance commissioned the huge oil refinery at Jamnagar on Gujarat's western coastline. Ambani was also a major player in planning an oil pipeline from Iran to India via Pakistan and to this end was one of the key players in initiating back channel or "Track II" diplomacy with Islamabad to secure his business interests. The project is still under review.

But in the process of cementing his industrial empire, Reliance Industries became a by-word for all that is wrong with India's corporate governance and business ethics. Government decisions, irrespective of the party in power, seemed always to benefit Reliance so that by the mid-1990s it had became a barometer for the financial markets and anything awry with the company reflected negatively on India's fortunes.

Despite his wealth, Ambani was a modest and generous man who never forgot his less fortunate childhood friends in Gujarat, many of whom he bankrolled for years. And unlike many taipans he never tried whitewashing or obfuscating his humble beginnings. After Reliance entered the petroleum sector, he declared "I began pumping oil and my family has ensured I shall end by pumping more oil".

Dhirubhai Ambani – An Incredible Indian!!

Posted by admin on August 27, 2009 at 10:16 am to Education

Our country has produced some of the outstanding citizens who have been achievers in their own fields and have contributed immensely for the country. Many have devoted their life for the freedom struggle; some managed to find success in sports and have brought pride and glory for our country and its people. In the field of entertainment, our film industry is now recognized globally because of the talent and hard work of the people related to it over a period of time. But my choice of an Incredible Indian is from the field of business. I think that this is one field whose contribution has always remained understated as people perceive businessman in a different way. People always perceive that successful businessmen have less to do with a country’s development and more to do with making money. Moreover, most of the people are often unaware of the multiplier effect which a business empire can bring to an economy.

“Think Big, Think Fast And Think Ahead.

Ideas are no one’s monopoly”.

The above lines said by Mr. Dhirubhai Ambani say a lot about his personality. On 28th December 1932 a child was born at Kukaswada near Chorwad, Junagadh (now the state of Gujarat, India) as the second son of a school teacher with modest means. Inspite of being born in a modest family the boy was far ahead in his thinking and was very keen to make it big in life. His rebellious nature of challenging the accepted, ability to dream big and a huge appetite to take risks weren’t appreciated by his conservative father. There are many young men out there who face the same problem when they want to do something more meaningful in life and most of the time they have to surrender to their family and relatives pressure. This boy was different as he was loaded with confidence and wasn’t the kind who would give up easily. Right from the childhood he showed his knack for entrepreneurship by undertaking small business activities and making money out of them.

When he was 16 years old, he moved to Aden, Yemen. He worked with A. Besse & Co. for a salary of Rs.300. Two years later, A. Besse & Co. became the distributors for Shell products, and Dhirubhai was promoted to manage the company’s filling station at the port of Aden. Satisfaction word did not exist in his dictionary as he always wanted to move to the next level. Apart from that, there was an inner drive and a huge ambition to make it big in the world of business. As a petrol pump attendant he used to bet in the commodity market and make some extra money. This shows that he was a known risk-taker. He was street smart and was gifted with an innate wisdom. During one incidence, he found out that the intrinsic value of the silver is more than the face value of the coins being circulated by the government in Yemen. He immediately started accumulating those coins and got them melted and sold the metal in the bullion markets. This shows how shrewd he was as a person.

What was most admiring about him was his belief in the power of dreams and the magic of thinking big. He remained an advocate of this power all through his life. How many petrol pump attendants can dream of creating an oil and gas empire? This message is very appropriate for the people in a developing country like India. People should get out of their comfort zones and should push themselves harder in order to achieve more. This is the way societies have progressed in the west. He was very candid and was always open to ideas and suggestions. He was also a very helpful person and followed an ‘open-door’ policy. Employees could walk into his cabin and discuss their problems with him. His people skills were legendary. He had a special way of dealing with different groups of people, be they employees, shareholders, journalists or government officials. Success in life is not related to formal education and fat degrees alone. He did not study after matriculation yet he achieved so much success. This is because he learnt from his experiences in life and made sure this is passed on to his next generation also.

Indian has achieved a lot from his contributions and achievements. Today, Reliance is the largest private sector enterprise and a Fortune 500 company. Look at the amount of wealth which the Reliance Group (ADAG included) has created for the country. Look at the amount of employment opportunities (direct as well as indirect) which the Reliance Group has created for our countrymen. Look at the small and medium businesses which are directly or indirectly related to the Reliance Group for their livelihood. If today, Reliance decides to go for a new project than look at the amount of business opportunities and demand that single project will create for other goods and services. This is the way wealth trickles down in an economy because of the multiplier effect. If Dhirubhai made money he also created opportunities for thousand others to grow along with him. Look at the amount of returns Reliance Group has consistently given to its shareholders. In fact, the whole idea of creating value for shareholders was pioneered by Dhirubhai Ambani in the Indian stock markets. That’s why he is known as the father of ‘The Indian Stock Market’. There are many families in our country (particularly in Gujarat) that made enough money just by investing in Reliance shares to get their daughters married and buy houses for themselves. This is the reason why Reliance is favourite scrip among most of the investors today. Dhirubhai has created an institution which has outlived him and will remain so for years to come. It was the conviction of Dhirubhai which has led to Reliance discovering huge gas deposits in the K-G Basin which will satisfy a lot of energy needs of our country. It would save around $20 Billion of the foreign exchange outflow from our country annually. Both his sons Mukesh and Anil have grown their businesses manifold and are carrying his legacy forward to the best of their abilities. Today, Reliance is a force to reckon with not only in our country but on a global scale. It has been only possible because Dhirubhai always use to benchmark his company with the global standards.

He was a person with a lot of compassion for the society. He was involved in a lot of philanthropic activities without being boastful about it. Unlike, other businessmen he did not believe in creating news about his charity work. These are the traits which makes him truly great. Lot of people achieve success in life but very few of them can carry it off with humility. It is extremely difficult to achieve so much in life and still be connected to your roots and remain humble.

A person may argue that he was involved in a lot of unethical business practices. I have a different take on that. He was an opportunist and he made sure that he exploited every loophole to his advantage. Even Lord Krishna has done the same thing in order to win the battle of Mahabharata for the Pandavas. During his time, it was so difficult to do business in India, yet he converted adversities into opportunities. Now, that is the quality one attaches to an optimist. He was a leader who had this unique ability to inspire people around him so that they move forward with a lot of zeal and positive energy. A leader can make the people around him aware about the things which they haven’t thought about themselves. The gleam and passion in his eyes and body language use to have a magnetic effect on people around him.

I feel he is one of the greatest entrepreneurs which this world has ever seen and the various awards and recognitions at the global level is a proof of that. Even if our country has 10 such Dhirubhais we could grow at a much faster rate and achieve our goal of a developed nation at a much quicker pace. Dhirubhai Ambani seems destined to be remembered as a folk hero—an example of what a man from one of India’s poor villages can accomplish with non-shrink ambition.

“Our dreams have to be bigger. Our ambitions higher. Our commitment deeper. And our efforts greater. This is my dream for Reliance and for India.” – Dhirubhai Hirachand Ambani

This post appeared in the blogsite strat.in and has been voted as one of the best blog entries in the Incredible Indians contest.

Know more by visiting : http://strat.in/incredible-indians-contest/

This post has been written by Saurav Jalan, presently, a second year MBA student of PraxisBusiness School, Kolkata. He has done initial schooling from a boarding school named Birla Public School, Pilani(Rajasthan), followed by intermediate(10+2) from DPS Mathura Road, New Delhi. He has done graduation in commerce stream from Delhi University, and has a small family of four members.

He loves reading travelling, sports(particularly, football), making friends,watching movies and listening to rock music. Long-term goal in life is to take the path of entrepreneurship and create something on my own. Some of the inspirations from the field of business are Dhirubhai Ambani, L.N. Mittal, Ratan Tata,Jack Welch and Steve Jobs.

Visit Saurav at: http://yantrajaal.ning.com/profile/SauravJalan

The Story of Dhirubhai Ambani

The Story of Dhirubhai Ambani

Perceptions and Proportions

Perceiving the market opportunities with a sense of proportion and embarking into appropriate diversification plans go a long way in the growth of a business enterprise. The case study of Reliance Enterprise is presented here. The students of Management Schools may like to draw lessons and find it to be a source of inspiration for the niche strategies adopted by the business tycoon Dhirubhai Ambani from rags to riches.

From rags to riches:

Dhirubhai Ambani was born on 28 Dec. 1932 as the third son to a school teacher in Gujarat with moderate means. Ambani moved to Aden, Yemen when he was 16 for a livelihood. He started his career as a dispatch clerk before becoming the distributor for Shell Products. He was later promoted as a manager in an oil filling station at the port of Aden.

The Yemeni Rial Coin had high content of pure silver in those days. Young Dhirubhai perceived high demand for ‘rial’ in London Stock Exchange and purchased them in bulk and melted the coins in silver and sold it to bullion traders in London. Though it was stopped in 3 months, D.A. made a few lakhs of Rupees in this transaction.

D.A. returned to India after 10 years and found Reliance Commercial Company with a capital of Rs.15000/= in Masjid Bunder in Mumbai in a 350 Sq.ft. space with one telephone, one table, three chairs and with a business mission of importing polyester yarn and exporting spices.. He went on to establish Reliance Textiles in 1964 under the brand name “Vimal” and the World Bank applauded the brand as the best Polyester Cloth. Perceiving success, Dhirubhai established Reliance IndustriesLtd in 1970s..

Dhirubhai Ambani is credited with starting the equity cult in India. More than 58,000 investors from various parts of India subscribed to Reliance's IPO in 1977. Dhirubhai was able to convince people of rural Gujarat that being shareholders of his company will only bring returns to their investment.

RIL holds the distinction that it is the only Public Limited Company whose several Annual General Meetings were held in stadiums.In 1986, The Annual General Meeting of Reliance Industries was held in Cross Maidan, Mumbai, was attended by more than 30,000 shareholders.

Dhirubhai Ambani's takes control of the Mumbai Stock exchange : In 1982, RIL was coming out with a rights issue of partly convertible debenture and it was rumored that the objective was not to get the then existing stock price to slide by an inch. A group of stock brokers in Calcutta joined together as a Bear Cartel. Taking this as an opportunity they started to short sell RIL scrips. Friends of RIL counteracted this move and the Bulls started buying the scrips on Bombay Stock Exchange.The bulls kept on buying and a price of Rs. 152 per share was maintained till the day of settlement. The Bear Cartel believed that the Bulls would accept settlement under the then prevalent " Badla " system. On the day of settlement the Bear Cartel was taken a back when the Bulls demanded physical delivery of shares.To complete the transaction the much needed cash was provided to the stock brokers who had brought shares of Reliance by none other than Dhirubhai Ambani. In case of non-settlement the Bulls demanded an 'Unbadala' (penalty sum) of Rs.35 per share. With this the demand increased and the shares of Reliance shot above 180 rupees in minutes. The settlement caused enormous uproar in the market and Dhirubhai Ambani was the unquestioned king of the stock markets.

The situation was completely out of control. Authorities of Bombay Stock exchange intervened in the matter and brought down the "Unbadla" rate to Rs. 2 with a stipulation that the Bear Cartel has to give the delivery of shares within few days. The Bear Cartel brought shares of Reliance from the market at higher price levels and it was also realized that Dhirubhai Ambani himself supplied those shares to the Bear Cartel and earned a healthy profit out of The Bear Cartel's adventure .

After this incident many questions were raised by his detractors and the press. Not many people were able to understand as to how a yarn trader till a few years ago was able to get in so much of cash flow during the crisis. RBI was called upon to investigate into the matter . It was clarified by RBI that the money flow into RIL was due to Rs.220 million investment made by NRIs thru' various Companies like ' crocodile's etc., and that there was nothing unethical nor illegal in the whole matter.

A film inspired by the life of Dhirubhai is set to release in January 2007. The Hindi Film Guru, directed by ManiRathnam and music by Rahman will show the struggle of a man who strives to make his mark in life. The movie stars Abhishek Bachan and AishwaryaRai in leading roles.

Highlights of Dhirubhai's venture :-

* What the Corporate Houses of Tatas, Birlas and Dalmiahs achieved and dominated over a period of a century, Dhirubhai Ambani could achieve within a short period with a razor like sharpness and business acumen.

* Dhirubhai Ambani proved to be a king in his diversification plans into Petro Chemicals, Energy, Power, Information Technology, Telecommunications, Capital Markets, Retails and so on.

* RIL is now India's largest Private Sector with turnover over US$19.976 billion backed by a profit over US$2.03 billion.

* 25% of share holders in India own a RIL Scrip.

* Fortune Global 500 featured RIL in 342nd rank in 2006. Forbes Global featured RIL at 295 spot in 2000.

*Chemtech and Chemical Engg.World gave the" Man of the Century " award in Nov 2000 to Dhirubhai Ambani.

* Dhirubhai won the " Dean's Medal " of Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania in June 1998 for " Outstanding Leadership "

* FICCI conferred the title " Man of 20th century " on D.A.in 2000.

* Times Of India in 2000 voted Dhirubhai Ambani as the greatest creator of wealth in the country.

The man from rags to riches, Dhirubhai Ambani breathed his last on July 6, 2002 but his glow would continue to inspire the whole generations of nations.

Dhirubhai Ambani - From Rags to Riches

Rags to riches is click that is often applied to describe the climb up the ladder of even modestly successful businessmen. But it could hardly be more appropriately used than to trace the meteoric rise of Dhirubhani Ambani, Chairman of high flying Reliance Industries, rated among the top three business groups in India today.

From an initial investment of a mere Rs. 15000 in 1958 to start a trading house, followed by the setting up of his own tiny manufacturing facility in Gujarat in 1966, Ambani, Son of a rural school teacher, has managed to build up a synthetic yarn, textiles and petrochemicals empire that is today the third largest private sector mega corporation.

For the year ended March 1991, Reliance Industries is understood to have recorded a sales turnover of Rs. 2,300 crores ( more than US $ 1 billion), making it the third largest private corporation in the country to day. Those who predicted that he was a conman, a confidence trickster, have had to eat their words. “ I am the dubble that burst!” chortles Dhirubhai, sarcastically referring to the negative headlines that greeted his forays into the primary capital market in the early- 1980s.

Success on such a gigantic scale inevitable excites jealousy and enmity; and Ambani, today 58, has had to deal with his share. Reliance’s have been the subject of several exposes in the press. But these have neither fazed the tycoon extraordinaire, nor halted the inexorable progress of his march forward towards his goal of becoming the undisputed No.1 in the country.

To any sort of sniping in the press, Dhirbhai has responded with stoic silence. Rarely has he reacted to even the most stringent media criticism. In the last couple of years, though, he has taken a leaf out of industrialist-cum press baron Ramnath Goenka’s book. He has taken the precaution of shoring up his own strength in the media, not minding the expenditure of huge sums of money, and timing the launches of his products to a nicety.

In late-1989, he bought a small but well-respected weekly newspaper, ‘ The Sunday Observer’, that had a combined circulation of approximately 85,000 in the up market areas of Bombay and Delhi. He converted it into the ‘Observer group of publications’, and recruited some of the country’s top financial journalists to help run it.

Today, the Observer group brings out a political and financial daily in addition to the weekend paper. Notwithstanding excellent production values, the paper is a white elephant, has limited circulation and is understood be making huge losses. Started recently is an equally slickly produced video news magazine that is becoming increasingly popular.

These tools have helped Ambani counter the adverse publicity that his group has often faced in the past for the reluctance of its big bosses to grant interviews. Even to the most powerful of journalists in the country, Dhirubhai pleads his inability to grant taped interviews. He and his sons are wiling to meet the scribes on a personal level and give them any information they desire, but on condition that it is strictly off the record.

Whether he talks to the press about his group’s working or not is a matter of the utmost indifference to lakhs of Reliance shareholders, a high percentage of them ordinary middle-class people. They all unequivocally bless the moon-faced magnate for having handed them sizable fortunes in the share market in return for loyalty to Reliance.

Over the years, the company has rewarded its shareholders handsomely. Anyone who resisted the market’s skepticism when the firm went public in 1977, invested even a small amount in debentures and shares, and purchased all subsequent additional rights offerings, has seen his money multiply by leaps and bounds, to well over a hundred times the original investment.

Today, nearly three million people hold shares in Reliance Industries and its sister concerns. And these shareholders beget special treatment form Dhirubhai as his’ family’. He has gone to extraordinary lengths to give them a feeling of belonging. When he floated his last series of debentures, he set up a temporary force of delivery boys who handed over the certificates to each individual shareholder at his or her stated address.

In several ways, Dhirubhai is unique. He could hardly have started nearer the bottom then he did. “Please understand, to have success traditionally, you require education or money or family background; and I did not have any of these three, “he admits. “So people occasionally ask; ‘ Where did this upstart come form?’, and demand to see my credentials!”

Dhirajlal Hirachand Ambai ( ‘Dhirubhai’ is a nickname ) came from a tiny village that is not even a dot on the political map of Gujarat. But Chorwad, in Junagadh district, today remembers that its most famous scion born- was the progeny of a humble school teacher, and that he could not go in for higher education simply because there was no money in the family kitty.

Instead, at the age of 16, he shipped out for the Arabian peninsular city of Aden, where a village acquaintance had secured him a job working for A. Beesse & Co. , a French trading firm, as a clerk at a gas station. From that point onwards, his rise has been generally steady and occasionally meteoric.

The Jewish proprietor of the agency must have seen some exceptional qualities in the young man; and by the time he was 24, Ambani was already the general marketing manager for Burmah Shell products. Any middleclass Indian would have been euphoric to have achieved so much success at such a young age, and clung to the job like glue. Not Ambani. He wanted his own business, he wanted to put to work the precepts he had picked up on the job.

For a while, he worked in a totally unrelated business-representing people whose insurance claims had been rejected, and splitting any settlements he was able to negotiate. At the age of 25, he returned to India and set up a firm for exporting spices and other commodities to Aden. Reliance Commercial Corporation was put up at an outlay of Rs. 15,000. While the firm specialized in ginger, cardamom, turmeric and fabrics, it was not averse to taking on any other item.

Dhirubhai has never looked back. Most top Indian corporate bosses at the time were content to sit behind the walls of governmental protectionism on the imports front, and earnprofits from marketing frequently shoddy, high-priced products based on obsolete technology. In contrast, Ambani showed that he could combine the inborn shrewdness of the Gujarati businessman with an almost American style of entrepreneurial self-confidence and a Japanese willingness to invest in the latest technology.

For a long while, he indulged in buying and selling synthetic fibres and textiles. “He was a small-time, paan-chewing trader, with a persuasive manner and a razor-sharp brain for finance,” recalls Virenchee Sagar, former Managing Director of Nirlon Chemicals and Synthetic Fibres Limited. “In the early 1960s, he used to buy regularly from us; by the start of the 1980s, we were buying a lot of our own raw material from him!”

At first, Dhirubhai could not afford an office of his own, so he rented desk space for two hours a day. He, wife Kokilaben and four children (two sons, two daughters, in that order) lived in a cramped two-room flat in a crowded chawl in a Bombay slum, sharing communal lavatories.

“I remember, a children, my elder brother Mukesh and I had to share clothes, and our only playgrounds were the gullies in the area,” recalls 32 year old Anil, the younger of the Ambani, sons, who was in the limelight earlier this year because of his marriage to former film star Tina Munim.

Very early in his new venture, Dhirubhai picked up the art of profiting from the Byzantine system of controls that were guaranteed to choke the enthusiasm out of other entrepreneurs. He exported spices, and used replenishment licences to import rayon.

Later, when rayon began being manufactured in India, he exported rayon and imported nylon. Still later, he exported nylon and imported polyester. He was always a step ahead of the main competition, looking ahead and scoring bulls-eyes with most of the bold steps he took. With the imported items being heavily in demand, his profit margins were rarely under 300 per cent. (he admits to having made 700 per cent on one occasion!)

“There were occasions when we exported rayon at a loss, because the entire purpose was to get an import licence for nylon,” he explains. “In this country, it is considered fashionable to complain about government restrictions. We took the restrictions as an opportunity. If the rules against nylon imports had not been there, I could not have made the money!”

Reliance began manufacturing activities at Naroda in 1966, with for warp-knitting machines and a staff strength of 70. By the time he decided to make his maiden public offer of shares in 1977, he had already gained a good reputation as a manufacturer of quality fabrics.

That first issue of 28.20 lakh shares of Rs. 10 each was oversubscribed seven times, despite the financial press shooting down the offer in its issue reviews. Today, the company is a multi-division behemoth, employing more than 50,000 people at its major manufacturing centres in Naroda and Patalganga, and using machinery that is among the most advanced in the world.

In his early days, Dhirubhai found the domestic cloth market controlled by wholesalers who preferred to deal with established companies. So he decided to set up his own chain of retailing stores throughout India, using the franchising technique. Today, Vimal textiles are sold through thousands of retail outlets, and easily from the industry’s best-selling brand.

Once the rupees and dollars both began flowing in, Dhirubhai decided that his sons would have the best education that money could buy. Elder son Mukesh, who showed a technical bent of mind, did chemical engineering, subsequently went to Standford and obtained an M.B.A. Anil, the younger of the boys by three years, specialized in chemistry and then went to Wharton to secure his master’s degree in business administration.

The experience of putting up projects in the shortest possible time so as to avoid cost and time over-runs served Mukesh in good stead when Dhirubhai purchased the latest polyster filament yarn technology from DuPont, and decided to set up a 10,000 tonnes per annum plant at a 300-acre site in Patalganga, about 65 kilometres from Bombay. DuPont would have taken two years to raise such a complex, but Mukesh, working with a small project team, completed the job in an incredible 18 months.

Going still further upstream, Reliance put up plants to manufacture purified terephthalic acid (PTA) and monoethylene glycol (MEG), both essential raw materials in the manufacture of polyster yarn. “Some time in the future,” boasts Anil the more voluble of the two sons, “We hope to integrate all the way back to natural gas!”

Dhirubhai’s ability to have finger on the political pulse of the country has quite obviously helped him slice through most of the bureaucratic red tape that has often tied Indian businessmen up in knots. Since it went public in 1977, Reliance has repeatedly infuriated competitors and customers alike by acquiring manufacturing licences to produce not only synthetic yarn and fibre, but also more and more of the raw materials used in making these products.

Other manufacturers consistently failed to get these coveted licences. In 1981, more than 400 companies applied for a licence to produce polyster filament yarn; 43 made the waiting list, but only two companies were granted the requisite permission. Reliance got a licence for 10,000 tonnes per annum while the only other licence granted was to Orkay Mills for 6,000 tpa.

Since it went public in 1977, Reliance has set several corporate records. One of these is for the growth in its assets; these have bloated by a factor of 33 times of currently top the Rs. 2,000 crores mark. No other company has grown so much, so fast.

Another record is for subscription from the investing public in a single issue. In 1985, Reliance notched the record of collecting Rs. 400 crores from an estimated 1.5 million investors through the issue of nonconvertible debentures.

That was one of its best years- a year that saw a mammoth, record crowd of over 12,000 attend its Annual General Meeting held inside a shamiana set up on the cooperage football ground, in a carnival-like atmosphere, where food packets were distributed to attending shareholders.

Subsequently, the subsecription record was broken by Larsen and Toubro, which collected well over its equity offer of Rs. 820 crores in 1989. That happened when Dhirubhai was elected chairman of the highly respected engineering colossus, and put his weight behind the media blitz that accompanied the announcement of the offer.

One of the boasts of Reliance Industries is that the level of integration it has achieved in the manufacturing process in unmatched anywhere in the world. Raw naphtha, a product refined from oil, is used to produce paraxylene, which in turn in used to produce PTA to make polyster filament yarn and staple fibre. Not only does the company use this to make fabrics which are marketed through 1,500 franchised retail outlets all over the country, but it also supplies PTA to leading textile mills throughout India.

While its manufacturing activities have made Reliance pre-eminent in its field, it is in the realm of high finance that its chief has been proven to be a forerunner. A sort of innate financial legerdemain enabled this human dynamo to manoeuvre his finances. Its innovative financial schemes gave a big boost to the capital market.

Dhibubhai turned the non-convertible debenture (NCD)-which is actually little better than a fixed deposit placed with a company-into an amazing financial tool. By announcing that these NCDs would be converted into equity shares at a premium, Dhirubhai not only sent his investors into ecstasies, but his firm also benefited hugely from the hefty premiums charged.

Legislation was finally moved in June 1989 to prevent the company from converting its fifth and sixth (the ‘E’ and ‘F’ series) issues of debentures into equity. But by then, Reliance had already made a fortune which it has wisely invested in both men and machines.

Dhirubhai, one could say, has virtually the Midas touch when it comes to making money. Even in a sports sponsorship deal, where a company usually only gains unquantifiable publicity, Reliance made a quantifiable cash profit. In 1987, the company sponsored the World Cup limited overs cricket competition; and thanks to some savvy marketing techniques, not only got free worldwide publicity, but also made a profit in the manner made famous by the organizers of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.

Apart from began a financial wizard, Dhirubhai is a truly magnificent organizer, and has been able to give his employees the impression that they can unequivocally count on him in times of distress. For example, when an unexpected flood hit the industrial township of Patalganga, and washed out three entire villages on ‘Black Monday’, 24th July 1989, the human factor in the Reliance complex there was the least badly affected, through the factory itself was totally submerged.

More than twenty inches of rain fell in just eight hours in an area that had no flood history in the previous 80 years. The downpour was accompanied by winds rising to more than 80 kilometres per hour. Out of 384 people dead and 264 missing, not a single person was a Reliance employee. As many as 1,500 families were rendered homeless, and 1,15,000 people rendered destitute, but none of these were Reliance personnel.

In space of 72 hours, Reliance bosses had mobilized more than 6,000 personnel from India and and abroad to salvage the complex in which the company had invested more than Rs. 1,500 crores. Accommodation for affected employees was organized overnight. In spite of an ongoing transport strike, trucks and tempos were commissioned to remove 6,000 tonnes of debris within three days. The firs two plants of the complex were restarted in just 14 days from the date of the disaster, and the entire complex was back on stream in a record time of 21 days.

Why do the investors in his companies respond so wholeheartedly to Dhirubhai Ambani? One of the reason is that, all through his career, he ahs employed one principle that he picked up at A. Beesse in Adenlibreally rewarding those who have come to his assistance in times of need. Enormously large-hearted with those he considers his benefactors during his days of struggle, he has been known to dole out massive sums of money across the table without expectation of its being return.

At the same time, he is known to be ruthless towards his competitors. He has an elephant’s memory that easily identifies those who have crossed his path in the past.

The strain of ceaselessly fighting corporate and political wars has inevitably told on Ambani, and his health hit a downward curve after 1986. That year, he had a stroke that left one side of his body partially paralysed. The news of his indisposition spread like wildfire in the stock market, and the Reliance share fells like a stone in only a couple of hours’ trading. For a long time, he did not make any public appearances, and the counter continued to languish in the doldrums. The day he first appeared in public, the scrip made a smart recovery.

Though not as physically hardy as before, Dhirubhai has not let the permanent handicap of the paralytic stroke blunt the edge of his razor-sharp brain. It is still from his fourth floor office in Maker tower IV at Nariman point that all major policy decisions which affect the future of the Reliance group are taken. The routine running of the organization is left to Mukesh and Anil, who nevertheless consult him in all key matters.

There are some opinion-makers, like well-known newspaper editor Vinod Mehta, who have referred in print to Dhirubhai Ambani as ‘the embodiment of evil; However, to the Gujarati business community, he has assumed the status of demi-god. To al aspiring small-time entrepreneurs, he has become a sort of benchmark they aim at. And so, with each succeeding day, the legend to Dhirubhai Ambani continues to gather spice.

Dhirubhai Ambani
Dhirubhai Ambani was an Indian business tycoon who founded Reliance Industries.

Dhirajlal Hirachand Ambani lovingly called Dhirubhai gave few public speeches but the words he spoke are still remembered for their value --- "I am deaf to the word `no`". An Indian business tycoon who founded Reliance Industries in 1958 in Bombay. As a quality of business leader he was also a motivator.His success in the petro-chemical business and his story of rags to riches made him a cult figure in the minds of Indian people. Dhirubhai Ambani was the most enterprising Indian entrepreneur; built India`s largest private sector company has created an equity cult in the Indian capital market. Reliance is the first Indian company to feature in Forbes 500 list.

Dhirubhai Ambani was born into a Modh family on 28th December 1932 in Chorwad, Junagadh. Junagadh is a state of Gujrat, India. Dhirubai Ambani

His father was a schoolteacher. He was married to Kokilaben and had two sons, Mukesh Ambani and Anil Ambani, and two daughters, Nina Kothari and Deepti Salgaoncar. He breathed his last on July 6, 2002, at around 11:50 P.M. He was suffered a major Brain stroke. His funeral procession was attended by politicians, business people, celebrities and also by and thousands of ordinary people. His elder son, Mukesh Ambani, performed the last rites as per Hindu traditions. He was cremated at the Chandanwadi Crematorium in Mumbai on July 7, 2002. Dhirubhai Ambani started his entrepreneurial career by selling "bhajias" to pilgrims in Mount Girnar over the weekends during his early days. After doing his matriculation at the age of 16, Dhirubhai moved to Aden, Yemen. He worked there as a gas-station attendant, and as a dispatch clerk with A.Besse & Co. After becoming the distributor for the Shell products, A.Besse & Co promoted Dhirubhai to manage the company`s oil filling station at the port of Aden. But he returned to India in 1958 with Rs 50,000 and started the Reliance Commercial Corporation with a capital of Rs 15,000. The primary business was to import polyester yarn and export spices. Dhirubhai was a known risk taker and he considered that building inventories, anticipating a price rise, and making profits through that was good for growth.

Dhirubhai started his first textile mill at Naroda, near Ahmedabad in the year 1966 founding a good opportunity in the textile business,. Textiles were manufactured using polyester fibre yarn. Dhirubhai started the brand "Vimal", which was named after his elder brother Ramaniklal Ambani`s son, Vimal Ambani. Extensive marketing of the brand "Vimal" made it a household name in the interiors of India. In the year 1975, a Technical team from the World Bank visited the Reliance Textiles` Manufacturing unit and certified as "excellent even by developed country standards".

Mukesh-Anil

The `equity cult` in India is the brain child of Dhirubhai Ambani. He has been credited in shaping the Indian equity culture. More than 58,000 investors from various parts of India subscribed to Reliance`s IPO (Initial Public Offering) in 1977. People of rural Gujarat has been convinced by Dhirubhai that being shareholders of his company will only bring returns to their investment. Reliance Industries is the only Public Limited Company whose several Annual General Meetings were held in stadiums because of the number of the shareholders. Dhirubhai revolutionized capital markets. From nothing, he generated billions of rupees in wealth for those who put their trust in his companies. With innovative instruments like the convertible debenture, Reliance quickly became a favorite of the stock market in the 1980s.

Assisted by his two sons, Mukesh and Anil, Dhirubhai Ambani built India`s largest private sector company, Reliance India Limited. Over time, Dhirubhai diversified his business with the core specialisation being in petrochemicals and additional interests in telecommunications, information technology, energy, power, retail, textiles, infrastructure services, capital markets, and logistics. The BBC described the company as a whole as "a business empire with an estimated annual turnover of $12bn, and an 85,000-strong workforce".

At one point in time Nusli Wadia of Bombay Dyeing became the biggest competitor of Dhirubhai and Reliance Industries. Both Nusli Wadia and Dhirubhai were known for their influence in the political circles and their ability to get the most difficult licenses approved during the times of pre-liberalized economy. On many occasions, Ramnath Goenka of RPG group tried to intervene between the two warring factions Nusli Wadia and Dhirubhai and bring an end to the acrimony.

The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) named Dhirubhai Ambani the Indian Entrepreneur of the 20th Century. A poll conducted by The Times of India in 2000 voted him "greatest creator of wealth in the century". Dhirubhai Ambani has the rare distinction of being the first Indian to get Wharton School Dean`s Medal in 1998 for setting an outstanding example of leadership. In recognition of his outstanding contribution to the growth and development of the chemical industry in India Chemtech Foundation and Chemical Engineering World in 2000 conferred him the `Man of the Century` award. The `Asiaweek` magazine featured him among `Power 50 - the most powerful people in Asia` on 1996, 1998 and 2000. In 2001he received The Economic Times Award for Corporate Excellence for Lifetime Achievement.

Guru

The Hindi Film Guru, with direction by Mani Ratnam, is a film alleged to be inspired by the life of Dhirubhai Ambani was released on 12th January 2007. The movie shows the struggle of a man striving to make his mark in the Indian business world with a fictional Shakti Group of Industries. The film also protrays the strength of Dhirubhai Ambani with the help of the character of Guru Kant Desai.

The Reliance empire was splited up between the Ambani brothers after the demise of Dhirubhai Ambani. Mukesh Ambani got RIL and IPCL & his younger sibling Anil Ambani heading Reliance Capital, Reliance Energy and Reliance Infocomm. The entity headed by Mukesh Ambani is referred to as the Reliance Industries Limited whereas Anil`s Group has been renamed Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG).

On the demise of Dhirubhai Ambani the Mumbai Textile Merchants` decided to keep the market closed on the July 8, 2002, as a mark of respect to this great businessman. Hamish McDonald published an unauthorised biography of Ambani in 1998 in which both his achievements and shortcomings were reported. Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Former Prime Minister of India says "The country has lost iconic proof of what an ordinary Indian fired by the spirit of enterprise and driven by determination can achieve in his own lifetime." Thus he will always be remembered as the one who rewrote Indian corporate history and built a truly global corporate group.

(Last Updated on : 15/01/2009)

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Early Life

Life in Aden

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Initial Public Offering (IPO)

Dhirubhai's control over Stock Exchanges

Diversifications

Criticism

Death

Reliance after Dhirubhai

Awards and Recognitions

Guru Inspired by Dhirubhai Ambani

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Friday, February 26, 2010

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Dhirubhai Ambani's Quotes ! Who knows....reading these quotes might create another bunch of Ambanis for the future !

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Biography of Dhirubhai Ambani

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Thursday, February 25, 2010

Dhirubhai Ambani - A business Tycoon and Founder of Reliance Industries

Early Life

Life in Aden

Reliance Commercial Corporation

Initial Public Offering (IPO)

Dhirubhai's control over Stock Exchanges

Diversifications

Criticism

Death

Reliance after Dhirubhai

Awards and Recognitions

Guru Inspired by Dhirubhai Ambani

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Only Vimal. Only Dhirubhai.

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