Mukesh Ambani Birthday: Early life, family of the richest businessman of India

Mukesh Ambani, File photo/AFP

On April 19, 1957, Dhirubhai and Kokilaben Ambani gave birth to Mukesh Dhirubhai Ambani in Aden, Yemen. He has two sisters, Nina Bhadrashyam Kothari and Dipti Dattaraj Salgaocar, as well as a younger brother Anil Ambani.

Mukesh Ambani was born in present day Yemen and returned after his father Dhirubhai Ambani returned to India in 1958 to launch a business dealing in textiles and spices.

Mukesh Ambani resided in a two-bedroom flat in Bhuleshwar, Mumbai, till the 1970s. After a while, as the family's financial situation improved, Mukesh Ambani's father purchased the 14-floor Sea Wind apartment building in Colaba.

Personal Life

Mukesh Ambani wed Nita Ambani in 1985. They have two sons, Anant and Akash Ambani and a daughter Isha Ambani. The family lives in a 27-story Antilia luxury residence, which is valued at 1 billion USD. The structure contains three helipads, a 160-car garage, a private movie theatre, a swimming pool, and a fitness centre. It also employs 600 people for maintenance.

Mukesh Ambani's favourite food is Idli Sambhar, his favourite restaurant is Mysore Cafe, Mumbai.

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Education

Mukesh completed his High School from Hill Grange High School at Peddar Road, Mumbai along with his brother Anil Ambani. He completed Senior Secondary Education from St. Xavier's College, Mumbai. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering from the Institute of Chemical Technology. He began pursuing MBA from Stanford University but dropped out to help his father build Reliance.

Career

In the year 1981, after returning to India, Mukesh Ambani helped his father to build Reliance Industries Limited. The family business by this time expanded to refining, petrochemicals, retail and telecommunications industries. Its subsidiary, Reliance Retail Ltd. is the largest retailer in India. Mukesh Ambani also owns the IPL team Mumbai Indians and is the owner of Indian Super League, a football league in India.

In the year 1980, India under Indira Gandhi leadership opened the doors of PFY (polyester filament yarn) manufacturing plant to the private sector. Dhirubhai Ambani applied for the license to set up a PFY plant and faced stiff competition with Tatas, Birlas and more. Despite the competition, Dhirubhai received the 'License Raj'. In 1980, he called back Mukesh Ambani to help him build his business. Rasikbhai Meswani was the then director of the company and Mukesh Ambani reported to him daily.

The company was laid on the principle that everyone must contribute to the business and not the selected individuals. In 1985, Rasikbhai died and the next year in 1986, Mukesh Ambani's father suffered a stroke. It was at this time that all the responsibility was shifted to Mukesh Ambani being the eldest son of the family. At the age of 24 years, Ambani was given charge of the construction of Patalganga petrochemical plant.

On July 6, 2002, Mukesh's father died suffering a second stroke. This elevated tensions between the brothers as Dhirubhai didn't leave any will for the distribution of the empire. Their mother, Kokilaben Ambani, solved the dispute by splitting the company into two. Mukesh Ambani received Reliance Industries Limited and Indian Petrochemicals Corporation Limited.

Under Mukesh Ambani's guidance, the company built the world's largest grassroots petroleum refinery at Jamnagar, India and can produce 660,000 barrels per day in the year 2010.

In December 2013, Mukesh Ambani announced a collaborative venture with Bharti Airtel to set up a digital infrastructure for the 4G network in India. On June 18, 2014, he announced an investment of Rs 1.8 trillion across businesses in the next three years and launched 4G broadband services on December 27, 2015, internally.

In 2016, Jio launched its own 4G smartphone under the brand named 'LYF'. The smartphone was India's third-largest selling smartphone that year. In September that year, Jio 4G was launched commercially.

Recognitions

Mukesh Ambani has been listed consistently as India's richest man over a decade by the Forbes Magazine. In addition to this, he is the only businessman of India on Forbe's list of the world's most powerful people. In January 2018, he was ranked 18 by the Forbe's in its list of the wealthiest person in the world. In 2018, he surpassed Jack Ma, becoming Asia's richest person with a net worth of $44.3 billion. Outside North America and Europe, Mukesh Ambani is the wealthiest person in the world. In the year 2015, China's Hurun Research Institute ranked Mukesh Ambani as fifth among India's philanthropists. He also became the first non-American to be the Director of Bank of America. In 2012, Forbes listed him among the richest sports owners in the world.

On November 11, 2020, Mukesh Ambani ranked third in the seventh edition of EdelGive Hurun India Philanthropy List 2020 with a donation of ₹458 crores.