Dhirubhai Ambani Biography and Works.

Dhirajlal Hirachand Ambani, popularly known as Dhirubhai Ambani was born on December 28, 1933 in Chorwad, Gujarat. He was an Indian business magnate and entrepreneur.

He founded the Reliance Industries, the Petrochemicals, the Communications, Power, and Textiles Corporation and the only privately owned Indian company in the Fortune 500 list.

Dhirubhai started off as a small time worker with Arab merchants in the 1950s. He moved to Mumbai in 1958 to start his own spice business. He moved into textiles and opened his mill near Ahmedabad, after making modest profits.

Dhirubhai founded the Reliance Industries in 1958. The company today has over 85,000 employees, providing almost 5 percent of the central government’s total tax revenue.

Dhirubhai Ambani is credited with introducing the stock market to the average investor and thousands of investors attend the Reliance annual general meetings, which were sometimes held in a football stadium.

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 life is often referred to as a true ‘rags to riches’ story.

After a heart attack in 1986, he handed over the Reliance Group to his sons, Mukesh and Anil. After his death on July 6, 2002, the group was split into the Reliance Industries, headed by Mukesh Ambani and Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (Reliance ADAG) led by Anil Ambani.

Trivia

A poll conducted by The Times of India’ in 2000 voted him the “Greatest Creator of Wealth in the Centuries”.

Quote

“Think big, think fast, think ahead. Ideas are no one’s monopoly.”