Who Is Mukesh Ambani?

The richest man in India and, for a brief time in 2008, a contender for the title of the richest man in the world, Mukesh Ambani is the chair and managing director of Reliance Industries, a sprawling Indian conglomerate with interests in refining, oil and gas, petrochemicals, telecoms, retail, and media.

Ambani had a net worth of $113.9 billion as of March 2024. Most of this comes from his 42% stake in Reliance Industries, which claims to be the largest oil refining complex in the world.

Early Life and Education

Ambani was born in April 1957 in Yemen. His father, Dhirubhai, moved the family to Mumbai. Dhirubhai returned to India to escape an unstable political climate and, with his cousin, founded the Reliance Commercial Corporation. The company would eventually grow into Reliance Industries Limited.

Mukesh remained in Mumbai for college, getting a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Mumbai, then moved to Palo Alto, California, to pursue a master of business administration (MBA) at Stanford University. After graduating, he returned home to assist his father in the construction of a polyester filament yarn plant.

Reliance Industries

Reliance received a license from the Indian government to produce polyester filament yarn when Ambani returned to India from America in 1981. The company began in 1958 under Dhirubhai’s leadership as a provider of textiles. In the 1970s, diversified into petrochemicals and refining.

When Ambani came on board and joined the family business, it became one of the largest petrochemical companies in the world. Working under his father and then later taking control alongside his younger brother Anil, Ambani was credited for helping to bring Reliance into new growth markets and turning it into the conglomerate it is today.

The secret to its growth was not innovation but rather utilizing the most advanced technologies and systems to implement a dynamic supply chain to achieve significant economies of scale. 

Father's Death

In 2002, Ambani's father died of a stroke without leaving a will. This caused a feud between Ambani and his brother Anil.

Three years later, with the help of their mother, the two brothers agreed to split the business. Mukesh retained the flagship Reliance Industries, with interests in petrochemicals, oil and gas exploration, refining, and textiles, while Anil held on to telecoms, entertainment, power generation, and the asset management side of the business.

Reliance Under Ambani

Since 2005, Reliance’s revenues and profits have soared. Under Mukesh’s direction, the company developed best-in-class manufacturing facilities, strengthened its petroleum operations, and branched out into new areas, such as retail, 4G wireless broadband, and media.

Reliance’s expansion caused its valuation to balloon. However, sentiment dipped and the share price fell flat. This has partly been blamed on corporate governance issues and Reliance’s opaque corporate structure.

The company’s image has taken a hit, with accusations of crony capitalism and all the bad press associated with it. There have also been allegations that Reliance uses its political connections to rig the system and get favorable deals.

Ambani has also been criticized personally for building a 400,000-square-foot swanky home in Mumbai, an area where poverty is rife.

Why Is Mukesh Ambani One of the Richest People in the World?

Ambani has been the richest man in India for several years. With an estimated net worth of over $95 billion, he’s also one of the wealthiest people in the world.

The majority of his wealth is attributed to his 42% stake in Reliance Industries. The company's market capitalization was $235.04 billion.

Mukesh also owns the Mumbai Indians cricket team and about a 45% stake in Jio Financials Services, which used to be a subsidiary of Reliance but was then spun off into a separate entity. Other notable assets include Antilia, his Mumbai mansion valued at more than $2.2 billion in 2020 and is now probably worth considerably more. The 48,000-square-foot, 27-storey skyscraper houses three helipads, a yoga studio, a temple, a movie theater, a ballroom, and parking for 168 vehicles,

The Bottom Line

Mukesh Ambani became the richest man in Asia and one of the richest people in the world by helping to turn his father’s company, Reliance Industries, into a huge conglomerate and market leader across several industries. The company is worth over $200 billion, and its chair and managing director, Mukesh Ambani, owns just under half of it.