Section 36
Dhirubhai Ambani
Reliance Industries · Chorwad, Gujarat
- ₹15,000
- Money used to start Reliance Commercial Corporation · 1958
- $13.2 billion
- Reliance annual turnover · 2002
- Over 4 million
- Shareholders · 2002
The story
Dhirubhai Ambani was born in 1932 in Chorwad, a small village in Gujarat. His father was a school teacher. As a boy he sold hot snacks to pilgrims outside a temple in the village.
As a teenager he went to Aden, in Yemen, and worked at a petrol pump to help support his family. He came back to India in 1958 and started his first company in Bombay, Reliance Commercial Corporation, a trading and export house. It was set up with 15,000 rupees.
In 1966 Reliance opened its first textile mill at Naroda near Ahmedabad. In 1977 the company went public, and thousands of small investors bought its shares. By the time he died in July 2002, Reliance had a turnover of $13.2 billion and more than four million shareholders.
Timeline
- 1932Born in Chorwad, Gujarat, to a school teacher.
- 1958Returns from Aden; starts Reliance Commercial Corporation in Bombay with 15,000 rupees.
- 1966Opens the first Reliance textile mill at Naroda, Ahmedabad.
- 1977Reliance Industries goes public.
- 2002Dies in July; Reliance is India's only private company in the Fortune 500.