Dhirubhai Ambani

Biography
1. Born December 28, 1932Died July 6, 2002Achievements Dhiru Bhai Ambani built Indias largest private sector company. Created an equity cult in the Indian capital market. Reliance is the first Indian company to feature in Forbes 500 listDhirubhai Ambani was the most enterprising Indian entrepreneur. His life journey is reminiscent of the rags to riches story. He is remembered as the one who rewrote Indian corporate history and built a truly globa .....

Childhood Days
2. Dhirubhai was born at Chorwad, in the district of Junagarh in the western Indian state of Gujarat. Chorwad was then, as it is now, a small village about midway between the historic fort of Diu to the south and the fishing port of Porbandar to the north. Porbandar is the birthplace of Mahatma Gandhi. (Incidentally, the Gandhis and the Ambanis come from the same stock or gotra, the trading community of Modh baniyas.).Dhirubhais father, Hirachand Go .....

Early life
3. Dhirubhai Ambani was born on 28 December1932 at Kukaswada near Chorwad, Jamnagar (now the state of Gujarat, India) to Hirachand Gordhandhas Ambani and Jamnaben in a Modh family of modest means(Incidentally,The Gandhis and Ambanis came from the same gothra,the trading community of Modh baniyas). Hirachand Govardhandhas Ambani earned little as a village school teacher.But his wife,Jamanaben knew how to stretch every paisa in a long way.Hirachand an .....

School life
4. 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 Dhirubhai was precocious and highly intelligent and also as highly impatient of the oppressive grinding mill of the school classroom.He chose works which uses his physical ability to the maximum rather than mugging up school lessons. When .....

Majin Commercial Corporation
5. Dhirubhai Ambani eventually returned to India and started Majin in partnership with Champaklal Damani, his second cousin, who used to be with him in Aden, Yemen. Majin was to import polyester yarn and export spices. 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 .....

Reliance Textiles
6. 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 Ambanis 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 s .....

Initial public offering
7. Dhirubhai Ambani is credited with starting the equity cult in India. More than 58,000 investors from various parts of India subscribed to Reliances 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 .....

Dhirubhais control over stock exchanges
8. 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 th .....

Diversification
9. 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
10. 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. .....

Tussle with Nusli Wadia
11. Nusli Wadia of Bombay Dyeing was, at one point in time, 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.During the Janata Party rule between 1977 1979, Nusli Wadia obtained the permission to build a 60,000 tonnes per annum Di methyl terephthala .....

The Indian Express Articles
12. At one point in time, Ramnath Goenka was a friend of Dhirubhai Ambani. Ramnath Goenka was also considered to be close to Nusli Wadia. On many occasions, Ramnath Goenka tried to intervene between the two warring factions and bring an end to the enmity. Goenka and Ambani became rivanckinniveols mainly because Ambanis corrupt business practices and his illegal actions that led to Goenka not getting a fair share in the company. Later on, Ramnath Goen .....

Dhirubhai and V P Singh
13. It was widely known that Dhirubhai didnt enjoy cordial relations with Vishwanath Pratap Singh, who succeeded Rajiv Gandhi as the Prime Minister of India. In May 1985, V. P. Singh suddenly stopped the import of Purified Terephthalic Acid from the Open General License category. As a raw material this was very important to manufacture polyester filament yarn. This made it very difficult for Reliance to carry on operations. Reliance was able to secur .....

Reliance after Dhirubhai
14. 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 extensi .....

Film
15. 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, Ab .....

Family
16. Dhirajlal Hirachand Ambani, famously known as Dhirubhai Ambani, the Indian business tycoon and the founder of Reliance Industries, was born on 28th December 1932 into a Gujarati Family, in Chorward, Junagadh in Gujarat.He was the second son to Hirachand Gordhandas Ambani and Jamanaben. He had two brothers, Ramnikbhai and Natubhai and two sisters+C15, Trilochanaben and Jasuben.His father worked as a village school teacher. They were a reputed fami .....

Growing Up
17. Since Dhirubhais father was a village school teacher, he did not earn much. Though he was highly intelligent, he chose to use his physical abilities over cramming school lessons. He was said to be impatient of the oppressive grinding mill in the classroom. Once his mother asked him and his elder brother to support their father financially, after which he began putting up onionpotato fries stall at village fairs and gave the extra money he earned .....

Endeavors
18. Dhirubhai started working as a clerk in A. Besse & Co. (named after its French founder Antonin Besse) from the very first day he reached there. Aden was the second busiest trading and oil bunkering port in the world then. A. Besse & Co. was engaged in almost every branch of trading business cargo booking, handling, shipping, forwarding and wholesale merchandising. Initially Dhirubhai worked in the trading section of the firm, later he was tra .....

The Ideal Beginning
19. It all started when Dhirubhai started his own individual business, after ending partnership with Mr.Damani, his second cousin in 1965. Dhirubhai was known for his risk taking ability and his belief was in building inventories, anticipating a price rise and making profits.In 1966, sensing good business opportunities he setup Reliance Textiles, his first textile mill at Naroda, Ahemdabad. A brand, named Vimal was started by Dhirubhai, which was nam .....

Conjugal Relationship
20. Dhirubhai was married to Kokilaben in 1954 and was blessed with two sons, Mukesh and Anil and two daughters, Nina and Deepti. His sons later took over the Reliance industries after his death.Though Dhirubhai himself could not study much, his sons are highly educated. Mukesh, Dirubhais elder son is a graduate and Anil, his younger son is a post graduate. .....

Man of Substance
21. Dhirubhai Ambani is the founder of the Reliance Group of Industries which is a conglomerate and only privately owned company in India, with a net worth of $6.10 billion at the time of his death. Dhirubhais Reliance has almost taken over all types of trading sectors in India. From capital markets to households, Reliance is a common name.This great Indian business tycoon was worldly recognized and awarded.In June 1998, he became the first Indian to .....

Company Profile

22. Reliance Group of Industries, founded by Dhirubhai, is a conglomerate company which is indulged in petrochemicals, communications, textiles and power. The company has over 85000 employees at present and provides almost 5% of the Central governments Total tax revenue.The Reliance Group split soon after Dhirubhais death into Mukesh Ambanis Reliance Industries and Anil Ambanis Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group. .....

Obstacles Faced
23. There were several business rivalries faced by Dhirubhai Ambani.At one point of time, Nusli Wadia of Bombay Dyeing was the greatest competitor and threat to Dhirubhais Reliance Industries. The competition between the two turned out to be ugly.Another obstacle was Dhirubhais tussle with Ramnath Goenka, who once was Dhirubhais friend. It all began because Ramnath Goenka was not getting his equal share in the company and so he teamed up with Dhirubh .....

Virtues
24. Dhirubhai was a hardworking and intelligent man, since childhood. Though he couldnt study after his matriculation examination, he built up a great business due to his determination and skills he learned at A. Besse & Co. in Aden. Dhirubhais journey has been also depicted into a famous Bollywood movie named Guru, which was a great commercial success. .....

Awards and recognitions
25. 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 Deans Medal by The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, for setting an outstanding example of leadership. Dh .....

Death
26. 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 bus .....

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