Mukesh Ambani
$20.1 billion USDMukesh Ambani is the chairman, managing director and the largest shareholder of Reliance Industries, India's largest private sector company and a Fortune 500 Company. His personal stake in Reliance Industries is 48%. His wealth is US$ 20.1 billion as of March 2007, making him the world's 14th richest person and the second richest person in India. Mukesh and younger brother Anil are sons of the late founder of Reliance Industries, Dhirubhai Ambani.
Education
Mukesh holds a Bachelor of Chemical Engineering from the University of Mumbai Department of Chemical Technology (UDCT), which is now known as University of Mumbai, Institute of Chemical Technology (UICT). He began the MBA program at Stanford Business School, but dropped out after his first year in order assist in father's ongoing efforts to build the Patalganga petrochemical plant.
Career
Mukesh Ambani joined Reliance in 1981 and initiated Reliance's backward integration from textiles into polyester fibres and further into petrochemicals. In this process, he directed the creation of 60 new, world-class manufacturing facilities involving diverse technologies that have raised Reliance's manufacturing capacities from less than a million tonnes to twelve million tonnes per year.
He directed and led the creation of the world's largest grassroots petroleum refinery at Jamnagar, India, with a present capacity of 660,000 barrels per day (33 million tonnes per year) integrated with petrochemicals, power generation, port and related infrastructure, at an investment of Rs 100000 crore (nearly $24 billion USD).
Mukesh Ambani has set up the largest and most complex information and communications technology initiative in the world in the form of Reliance Infocomm Limited. Covering more than 1,100 towns and cities across India, Reliance Infocomm offers the full range of voice, data, video and value added services, on the strength of 80,000 kilometers of optic fibre-based terabit infrastructure, at the lowest entry cost and services cost anywhere in the world. However, Reliance Infocom now is under ADAG (Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group) post the brothers' split.
Mukesh Ambani is also steering Reliance's initiatives in a world scale, offshore, deep water oil and gas exploration and production program, a pan-India petroleum retail network involving 5,800 outlets and a research-led life sciences initiative covering medical, plant and industrial biotechnology.
Mukesh Ambani, CMD, Reliance Industries Limited , who has been leading the Reliance Life Sciences (RLS) initaitive since 2001, will continue to drive it post the new alignment of businesses at Reliance Industries Limited.
Wealth
The combined market capitalisation of the four Mukesh Ambani Group companies -- RIL, Reliance Petroleum (RPL), IPCL and Reliance Industrial Infrastructure Ltd (RIIL) has crossed the Rs 2,50,000 crore mark. The total promoter holding in these companies is worth over half at about Rs 1,30,000 crore. Mukesh' direct and indirect holding in RIL is estimated at around 46 per cent or close to Rs 1,10,000 crore, while his holdings in other group firms total to about Rs 1,000 crore.
He is reported to be building 27-storey family home skyscraper in downtown Mumbai spread over 4500 sqmtrs, height of 170 mtrs which is equivalent to 60 floors. The price of this house is reported to be 4500 crores, it is to be named as ANTILIA. The new home will include six levels of car parking for his 168 imported cars, 2 levels for health and fitness, one level of entertainment, including a mini theater, and the rest of personal living space and quarters for over 600 staff for maintenance. It will also have 3 helipads.
Family
Mukesh Ambani is married to Nita Ambani. Dhirubhai Ambani International School in Mumbai is a brainchild of Nita Ambani. Mukesh and Nita have 3 children: Akash, Isha and Anant.
Achievements
Ranked 42nd among the World's Most Respected Business Leaders and second among the four Indian CEOs featured in a survey conducted by Pricewaterhouse Coopers and published in [Financial Times]
Conferred the World Communication Award for the Most Influential Person in Telecommunications in 2004 by Total Telecom, October, 2004.
Chosen Telecom Man of the Year 2004 by Voice and Data magazine, September 2004.
Ranked 13th in Asia's Power 25 list of The Most Powerful People in Business published by Fortune magazine, August 2004.
Conferred the Asia Society Leadership Award by the Asia Society, Washington D.C., USA, May 2004.
Ranked No.1 for the second consecutive year, in The Power List 2004 published by India Today, March 2004.