Dhirubhai Ambani
Dhirubhai Ambani was an Indian business tycoon who founded Reliance Industries.
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.
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".
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.
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.
Dhirubhai Ambani was born into a Modh family on 28th December 1932 in Chorwad, Junagadh. Junagadh is a state of Gujrat, India.
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".
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.
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.
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