dhirubhai ambani

Introduction

Dhirajlal Hirachand Ambani, (Gujarati :) also known as Dhirubhai, (28 December

1932 – 6 July 2002) was an Indian rags-to-riches business tycoon who founded Reliance

Industries in Mumbai with his cousin. Ambani took his company (Reliance) public in 1977,

and by 2007 the combined fortune of the family (sons Anil and Mukesh) was 60 billion

dollars, making the Ambani's the second richest family in the world, next to the Walton

family. Dhirubhai has been one among the select Forbes billionaires and has also figured in

the Sunday Times list of top 50 businessmen in Asia.

Dhirubhai started off as a small time worker with Arab merchants in the 1950s and

moved to Mumbai in 1958 to start his own business in spices. After making modest profits,

he moved into textiles and opened his mill near Ahmedabad. Dhirubhai founded Reliance

Industries in 1958. After that it was a saga of expansions and successes.

Reliance's story as a company has been a 'bitter-sweet' saga in India. While on one hand it

remains one of the biggest Indian conglomerates, on the other hand it is known to be a

company evading taxes and being intransparen. It has presence in various sectors like

petrochemicals, textiles and is involved in the production of crude oil and gas, polyester

and polymer products. The company's refinery at Jamnagar accounts for over 25% of

India's total refining capacity and their plant at Hazira is the biggest chemical complex in

India. The company has further diversified into Telecom, Insurance and Internet

Businesses, Power Sector and so on. The Reliance group with over 85,000 employees

provides almost 5% of the Central Government's total revenue.

In 1986 after a heart attack he handed over his empire to his two sons Anil and Mukesh.

Early life

Dhirubhai Ambani was born on 28 December 1932 at Kukaswada near Chorwad in

the then princely states of Junagadh. (Now the state of Gujarat, India) to Hirachand

Gordhandhas Ambani and Jamnabe in a Gujarati family of modest means. Hirachand

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Gordhandhas Ambani was a village school teacher with little income. Hirachand and

Jamanaben had two daughters - Trilochanaben and Jasuben and three sons - Ramnikbhai,

Dhirubhai and Natubhai. Dhirubhai was the second son. Dhirubhai was precocious and

highly intelligent. He was also highly impatient of the oppressive grinding mill of the school

classroom. He chose work which used his physical ability to the maximum rather than

cramming school lessons. When Jamnaben once asked Dhirubhai and Ramnikbhai to help

his father by earning money, he angrily replied "Why do you keep screaming for money? I

will make heaps of money one day". During weekends, he began setting up onion/potato

fries stall at village fairs and made extra money which he gave to his mother.

Life in Aden

When he was 16 years old, he moved to Aden, Yemen. He worked with A. Besse &

Co. for a salary of Rs.300 (Present Day $6.64). Two years later, A. Besse & Co. became the

distributors for Shell products, and Dhirubhai was promoted to manage the company’s

filling station at the port of Aden. He was married to Kokilaben and had 2 sons, Mukesh,

Anil and two daughters, Nina Kothari, Deepti Salgaonkar. He also worked in Dubai for some

time during his early years.

During those days of him, the Yemini Rial was made of pure silver coins and was in

much demand at the London Bullion Exchange. Young Dhirubhai bought the Rials melted

them into pure silver and sold it to the bullion traders in London. During the latter part of

his life, while talking to reporters, it is believed that he said “The margins were small but it

was money for jam. After three months, it was stopped. But I made a few lakhs. In short, I

was a manipulator, a very good manipulator. But I don’t believe in not taking

opportunities.”

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PERSONALITY TRAITS OF

DHIRUBHAI AMBANI

Dhirubhai has been an opportunist right from his childhood. All he needed was the

whiff of a business opportunity and he was off to tap it. Dhirubhai has always shown all the

critical leadership qualities. He would always grab an opportunity and strike on it.

He believed that if a person wants to succeed in something then he should have

complete access to information on that topic. Whenever he wanted to approach the

government to get licenses, information about the competitors, market size etc. he would

collect all these information, no matter at what cost it came.

He also believes in destiny and gives all the credit to his luck. This shows how down

to earth he is. He had a simple ritual of Puja when a new machine is installed. He isn’t proud

of what he is and he still believes in ‘Simple living, Modern thinking’.

He always followed the rule to be the pioneer to do anything. He would just grab an

opportunity that would come up because of some government policy changes and would

implement it successfully.

He believed not in meeting demand but in creating demand. He always produced in

large quantities. He was of the opinion that customer should be provided with best quality

goods at the lowest price.

Moreover Dhirubhai as opposed to most other leaders wasn’t expert in only one

field. He was a manufacturing as well a marketing whiz. He knew how to offer the right

product mix, identify markets and establish viable distribution structure, which holds true

for one of his famous brand Vimal.

He is also referred to as ‘Manchester of India.’ He didn’t mind copying someone

else’s idea, which he could implement better than his competitors. As in the case of copying

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the concept of selling through showrooms for his brand Vimal to counter the resistance

from the traditional markets which he copied from Bombay Dyeing.

He always had the dynamism and confidence in future and was always ready to go

against all odds. He always believed in himself. He has always believed that his first

responsibility is towards his company’s shareholders and he was also concerned in

protecting their interests. He is also known as the ‘stock market messiah.’ This is because

when some Marwari clan were trying to bring down the

price of his shares by short selling, he counter attacked

them and in turn earned a hefty sum from them. He has

always had a wide investor base and most of his

subscriptions were oversubscribed.

He has always been an innovator in the financial

market. He innovated and reintroduced successfully

concepts like partial convertible bonds, fully convertible

bonds etc.

He has been successful in manufacturing world-

class products. He always believed in ‘Think big, think fast

and think ahead.’ He has never had an ego problem and he knew how to get his work done

from people. He was never ashamed to ‘salaam’ anyone.

Another incident that shows his vision as a leader is that when Reliance’s

Patalganga Complex was damaged due to floods. Technical experts from Du Pont estimated

hundred days to make the complex operational but Reliance had the complete complex

operational in twenty-one days. This was possible because of Dhirubhai’s vision, his

confidence, his dedication proper logistical planning and making available all resources.

Dhirubhai has always believed in picking up the best talent. They have a motivated

workforce. He only believes in providing leadership, vision and strategy. He thinks that he

doesn’t run his business but his business leaders do it.

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Dhirubhai is criticized for manipulating the government for his benefits. Apart from

that he has paid zero tax on corporate earnings for several years due to the loopholes in the

system. He was also involved in manipulating the L&T board to gain control. Apart from

that he was heavily criticized for buying shares under dummy companies which never

existed.

But be it whatever Dhirubhai is one of the greatest leaders of India who has the zeal

to achieve something big rather than just earning money and the obsession to build. He

wants to work till his death.

He was a man who always dreamed big. At a time when capacities were fragmented

and small, Dhirubhai dared to dream big. Instead of setting up capacities that would cater

to current demand, he set up the capacity and then set about creating the demand. He knew

where latent demand existed and decided to supply it. He made no compromises on

quality, insisting that his machinery must be state-of-the-art.

As a true leader Dhirubhai had once said that, “ People think I have finally arrived

but I think I have just begun.”

He was physically attractive, intelligent, convincing, task oriented & self motivated,

lastly he was both high on IQ & EQ.

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LEADERSHIP STYLE OF 

DHIRUBHAI AMBANI

The following is a description of the leadership style of Dhirubhai Ambani, the

founder of Reliance Industries. The managerial practices in Reliance were all affected

completely by the leadership style of its founder. The great success story of Reliance can be

completely attributed to the style of management brought in by Dhirubhai Ambani which

was perfected by his sons and to some extent by experts in business management hired by

the Reliance Group. But the fact remains that the comprehensive and integrated

personality of Dhirubhai Ambani permeates and penetrates through all aspects of working

of Reliance Industries and all its subsidiaries.

Dhirubhai Ambani- Yarn Trader to National Business Tycoon

It is interesting

to note the gradual

development of Ambani

as a leader from his

birth, growth and

blooming into a fully

fledged company

head. Born in a

traders¶ family in

Gujarat on

December 28th 1932 to

Jumna and Hirachand Ambani, he was the third of five children and his father was a school

master. Having barely completed his matriculation exam at 17 years of age, Dhirubhai

reached Aden and joined M/s. Besse & Co. which was dealing with Shell products and was

paid a first salary of 300 rupees per month. He studied all the nuances of the marketing of

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petroleum and as an ambitious young man; he shifted from service to business. He was

helped by Jamnadas in dealing with commodities like rice and sugar and returned to India

in 1958.He starte d Reliance Commercial Corporation with a capital of Rs 15000 as a

trading firm. It is very educative to note that as for an Arab Sheik’s request even a

consignment of Indian soil was sent to Aden to grow roses in the desert showing that

Ambani had the knack to identify an opportunity and strike the iron when it is hot.

Branching out to yarn trading, he started the first spanking new mill at Naroda as he

foresaw synthetics as the fabric of the future which shows the visionary nature of the man

in general. Dhirubhai registered Reliance Textile Industries with a paid up capital of

150000 as a power loom unit. This is where the backward integration concept first took

roots and later became the central theme for all strategic planning in Reliance.

As a risk taker, Ambani raised Rs. 280000 to get into manufacturing in a project

which was predicted to fail by great business stalwarts like Viren Shah. But, because of his

advance anticipation of things to come, he made a profit of 1.3 million in the first year. By

1977, Dhirubhai went public and his profit reached Rs 43.3 million from the revenues of

700 million. To manage his exploding business, he took out talent from wherever available

and jobs were offered more on showing initiative rather than on paper qualifications which

became a classic Reliance management strategy. The best technological talent was poached

from all his competitors to form the brains trust of Reliance.

When Ambani bought machinery, he was always ahead of tomorrows and had

commitment to quality by taking the finest technology the world could offer. The best

example is that of acquiring DuPont technology for synthetic yarn from Delaware, US, the

polyester process being first bought by him outside of United States. Dhirubhai entered

domestic markets with an advertising blitz on par with Hindustan Lever when Reliance

introduced ONLY VIMAL since he was very confident that the brand image was the most

important in order to win the consumer’s confidence. Dhirubhai felt that marketing success

was a function of three factors, namely, choosing the right product mix, identifying the

market and establishing a viable distribution structure. When faced with resistance from

traditional cloth marketers, Dhirubhai opened his own showrooms and appointed agents

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and offered franchises to his own shareholders. He also opened up non metro urban

segments in smaller towns as a result of which by 1980, Reliance fabrics were available to

twenty company owned retail outlets, 1000franchised outlets and more than twenty

thousand regular retails stores. This was comparable in speed and numbers only to Italian

Benetton and American Mc Donald’s.

Dhirubhai established a good rapport with his dealers by making his business with

them risk free because he used to say³if you lose, come back to us, but if you make profits,

they are all yours!´ Dhirubhai’s future gazing skill could be inferred from the fact that

though India is a poor country, people will not mind paying a little more for synthetics

provided they have a good quality and had a longer wear and tear. The Naroda mill

transformed Dhirubhai from a simple yarn trader to a great mill owner on par with

Mafatlals, Sarabhais etc. Dhirubhai spread out countries abroad through his Reliance

synthetic textiles. His dynamism and confidence in the future made him reach a sales

turnover of Rs 1 billion in just twelve years whereas Bombay Dyeing needed hundred

years. Dhirubhai was accused of black marketing and corruption to improve his sales and

get things done. After 1977, when Reliance went public, Dhirubhai’s holdings were 16%

but he had thousands of share holders from the public to support him in all his endeavors.

By converting debt into equity through successful debenture issues through 1979 to 1982,

he was able to raise up to Rs 500millions.

A very important philosophy of Dhirubhai was always to ensure that Reliance share

were in the ascendant to draw maximum benefit for the shareholders for whom he was

prepared to bend the Govt. rules, use his political influence and any legal Hera pheri

required for the purpose.Dhirubhai made sure that whenever Reliance had to impress the

Govt. to modify the existing rules and regulations, they used to have all the information in

India and abroad on the fingertips of the group which met and influenced the Govt.

Reliance always managed to maintain its zero-tax status by changing its accounting

practice by capitalizing interest for the long term debt for the purchase of fixed assets.

Many people felt that Reliance was avoiding taxes by cheating the Govt. However, all the

profits were ploughed into the company by Dhirubhai and his family so that business

prospered.

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Dhirubhai had the knack of taking on people like VP Singh in which he had the

inherent support from Ms. Indira Gandhi, Pranab Mukherjee and Rajeev Gandhi. One best

example is when he contracted the purchase of a whole year’s supply of PTA of 60000 tons

by having letters of credit from many banks when the Govt. was about to decide to shift

imports of PTA from open license to permissible limited list. Dhirubhai was able to show

his one-upmanship against Nusli Wadia and Goenka of Indian Express which were bent

upon destroying Reliance. Though this led to his paralysis and later failing health, he was

able to broker peace with his enemies through the success of Reliance’s G series along with

the meeting of Dhirubhai with Rajeev Gandhi through the good offices of Amitabh Bachhan

when VP Singh was shifted from Finance to Defence. However, there was never formal

delegation of authority in Reliance as there was flexibility as well as ambiguity. Only the top

managers could call the shots in addition to Dhirubhai and his sons. In spite of this,

Dhirubhai was very considerate to his employees like when Mr. Sanghvi incurred a heavy

loss in a deal with a view to increase the profit for Reliance. After 1995, Dhirubhai handed

over the reins of his empire to his sons though he did not lose his craving for money and

power since he was always available for expert advice. According to Anil Ambani, his

father’s only fault was he thought too big and clearly ahead of his time.

Dhirubhai Ambani’s Impact on Reliance’s

Managerial Practices and their Positive

Impact on Business

The great success of the Reliance Group is

in no small measure to epoch making changes in

management practices and philosophies brought

about by Dhirubhai Ambani based on his

convictions that reflect his unique management

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style. The following illustrate and prove Dhirubhai Ambani’s influence on Reliance’s

management practices.

Dhirubhai Ambani was a transformational leader. His innovative idea of converting

the debentures of the company into equity shares resulted in far reaching changes in the

management practices. Reliance was able to convert its liabilities into assets by this

masterstroke and the share prices of the company went up and all the investors could

make through this process. Though, the Government of the day was against this equity cult

starter by Dhirubhai per say, but, over a period of time based on precedence in foreign

companies, the statute book itself was modified to be in line with this innovative idea.

Consequently, the volumes of business in Reliance increased very fast along with quick

multiplication of its share capital.

Dhirubhai was a visionary who foresaw that mere financing through banks and

public limited companies will not suffice to increase the wealth base of Reliance. So, he was

able to convince the people of rural Gujarat and elsewhere that shareholders of the

company will have handsome returns on their investments. This approach resulted in

having more than 3 million shareholders investing in Reliance, which is the highest number

in the world for any company. As a result, Reliance Industries was the only public limited

company whose annual general meetings had to be held in open air stadiums. So much so,

with almost 20% of the shareholders in India belonging to Reliance, it became a dictating

factors in Indian economy, courtesy the Indian stock markets.

Dhirubhai Ambani believed that his people were his most important assets. The

most talented professionals were drawn from all and sundry, were nurtured and

continuously provided initiative to aim for still higher goals and targets. These highly

motivated people comprised the core of what is known as the Reliance family. This practice

improved the working of not only Reliance, but other prospering companies who followed

this practice also prospered in the long run. He also empowered his managers by giving

authority to them to work independently to work independently he had belief in the

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capabilities of his people. This has grown to become the core of the Reliance group’s

HR policy of staff recruitment and maintenance.

Dhirubhai was a risk taker, but was only prepared to take calculated risk based on

the expected future trends. He invested his entire earnings to purchase a huge stock

of polyester yarn which was felt as a wrong decision by others because cotton was the king

in India at the time. But he proved right and this made him a billionaire as polyester caught

the fancy of the people for better value and longer wear and tear period of the clothing.

This influenced Reliance to such an extent that it went on with the purchase of polyester

technology from DuPont as the first non- American company to do so. This move gave the

Reliance Group monumental financial resources that helped build a robust growth engine

and also developed a core competence to grow business, expand and diversify into a

potato-to-petrochemicals conglomerate at a break neck speed.

When Dhirubhai felt that was a lot of opposition for the introduction of polyester

cloth for retail outlets, he started his own chain of distribution centers and gave retail

agencies to many of his shareholders on franchise basis. This made it possible for only

Vimal to penetrate through A and B class cities and semi-urban neighborhoods which made

the market blossom to absorb additional supplies and increase the demand for the same all

over the country. In the long term perspective, this also helped develop the much needed

knowledge of supply chain management strategies in the Reliance Group, which now

boasts of one of the best supply chains in the country in the category of departmental

stores, food chains, pharmacy drug stores etc.

Dhirubhai Ambani was the one of the first Indian businessmen to realize that high

quality actually costs less. Dhirubhai always insisted that Reliance use the best and finest

state-of-the-art machinery, equipment and manufacturing facilities. Under his stewardship,

the Reliance Industries operated the best manufacturing plants in the country, a comment

by the World Bank team affirming the same being a testimony to its technological

advancement. In the long run this emphasis on constant up gradation of facilities improved

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the capacity utilization, economies of scale and reduced the production costs per unit in

various factories of the company. Also, this philosophy helped the company to vastly cut

down its production/manufacturing costs, provide higher quality products and product

pricing flexibility in many of their high volume- low margin businesses.

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Dhirubhai Ambani and Reliance

(Case Study)

"Our dreams have to be bigger. Our ambition higher. Our commitment deeper. And

our efforts greater. This is my dream for Reliance and for India."

- Dhirubhai Ambani.

"The country has lost an iconic proof of what an ordinary Indian fired by the spirit

of enterprise and driven by determination, can achieve in his own lifetime. Not only

did Ambani build a large and diversified business conglomerate but also inspired many

first generation entrepreneurs with his success."

- Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Prime Minister, Republic of India.

"Dhirubhai built an empire that is rock solid and he will always remain an icon."

- Kumar Mangalam Birla, Chairman, Aditya Vikram Birla Group.

The Death of an Icon

The 6th of July 2002 was a

black day in the Indian corporate

history. The Founder and

Chairman of the Reliance group of

Industries (Reliance), Dhirajlal

Hirachand Ambani (Dhirubhai)

died after a 13 day battle

for survival. A perfect combination of entrepreneurship and leadership, Dhirubhai

transformed Reliance from a company with a turnover of Rs 640 million in 1976, to one

with a turnover of Rs 620 billion in 2002. Starting with a small textile mill in Naroda, in

1966, Dhirubhai took Reliance into various areas like petrochemicals, polyester filament

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yarn, oil and gas exploration and production, refining and marketing of petroleum,

textiles, power, telecom services, information management and financial services (Refer

Exhibit I for Reliance Group of Companies).Dhirubhai never followed the textbook style of

management. Instead, he evolved a unique style, which combined the American style of

entrepreneurship, with the Japanese focus on the latest technology. And to this, he added

the innate shrewdness of a Gujarati businessman. Analysts feel that he was a perfect

manager of time, money and men and exhibited a passion to find solutions to problems.

Dhirubhai started Reliance at a time when most companies in India were owned by

the government, and the private players were given step-motherly treatment by the

government while offering licenses and permits. Similarly, when most Indian business

houses depended on government – owned financial institutions for funds, Dhirubhai raised

capital from the public by offering shares of his companies

Dhirubhai was born on December 28, 1932, to Hirachand Govardhandas Ambani

and Jamunaben Hirachand Ambani. He was the middle of five children, three boys and two

girls(Refer Exhibit II for the Dhirubhai family tree). His father was a local school teacher in

a village called Chorwad in the Junagadh district of Gujarat. After his matriculation in 1949,

Dhirubhai left for Aden, (now in Yemen) at the young age of 17. His first job was to fill gas

and collect money at a Shell petrol station, earning Rs 300 a month. Within a few years, he

rose to the position of a sales manager (Refer Exhibit III for Chronology of Events) in the

same company. After working for eight years in Aden, Dhirubhai decided to come back to

India and start something on his own. On December 31, 1958, he came back to Mumbai and

started the Reliance Commercial Corporation (RCC) with a borrowed capital of Rs.15, 000.

RCC was mainly involved in exporting commodities like ginger, cardamom, pepper,

turmeric, and cashew nut. Using his connections in Aden, he exported a wide range

of commodities to Aden. Aden, being a free port attracted lot of exports. In the mid

1960s, the Government of India (GoI) introduced an export promotion scheme under which

the earnings from the export of rayon fabrics could be used for the import of nylon fiber.

This attracted Dhirubhai's attention and he decided to switch from spices to

textiles. In1966, he set up a spinning mill at Naroda 20 kms from Ahmedabad with

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borrowed funds of Rs 2, 80,000 and registered it (Reliance Textile Industries) as a

powerloom unit with a paid up capital of Rs 150,000. Another program, the High Unit Value

Scheme introduced by the Govt. of India in 1971 gave tremendous boost to Reliance

textiles. The scheme allowed the import of polyester filament yarn against the export of

nylon fabrics. RCC was benefited the most from this scheme and its exports constituted

more than60% of exports under this scheme. There were rumors that the scheme was

solely devised for Dhirubhai. Dhirubhai strongly denied the allegations saying that Reliance

cannot be blamed for taking advantage of the scheme 'when others kept their eyes shut.' He

said "I do not consider myself cleverer than my colleagues in the industry. If there was a

very large margin of profit, why did they not take advantage of it?" When the High Unit

Value scheme ended in 1978, Dhirubhai focused his attention on the domestic market.

During this time, Reliance Textiles was not a very well known name in the domestic

market. His first priority was to establish the Vimal brand, under which Reliance Textiles

sold its fabrics in India. An advertising programme was launched to facilitate its entry into

the domestic market.

Dhirubhai knew that a strong brand image was crucial for winning the consumer's

confidence. To achieve this objective, Reliance tried to emphasize the superior quality of its

fabric in all its advertisements. Besides this, Dhirubhai also took steps to develop an

efficient distribution system for Vimal as he found that the existing marketing channels

were inadequate and inefficient. However, things were not that easy. When Reliance

entered the domestic market, it faced lot of resistance from the traditional cloth merchants,

as their loyalties lay with the older mills. Confronted with this situation, Dhirubhai decided

to move away from the traditional wholesale trade and open his showrooms to tap new

markets. He appointed several agents from non-textile backgrounds for the same.

Dhirubhai adopted the concept of company stores from its main competitor, Bombay

Dyeing (Refer Exhibit IV), and pursued it on a grand scale. Dhirubhai toured the entire

country intensively, offering franchises to shareholders.

Dhirubhai promised that Reliance would provide financial and advertising support.

In his search for high volumes, Dhirubhai identified a new market - the non-metro urban

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segment. By 1980, Reliance fabrics were available all over India through 20 company

owned retail outlets, over 1000 franchised outlets, and over 20,000 retail stores. To

strengthen his position further, Dhirubhai decided to integrate backwards and produce

fibers. He planned to set up a polyester filament yarn (PFY) manufacturing plant at

Patalganga. Dhirubhai started work on the plant in 1981. He wanted to make it a world-

class plant equipped with the best machinery and having the best faculties. The technology

for the production of PFY was sourced from USA's Du Pont De Nemours. However,

Dhirubhai did not want to make Du Pont an equity partner. He felt that when technology

was easily available in the international markets, it was not necessary to enter into a 51

%equity partnership with a foreign company. In spite of the demand for PFY being 6000

tons per annum (TPA), Dhirubhai built a 10000tpa plant with a built-in expansion

provision of 15000 TPA.

Dhirubhai's biggest contribution to the nation was the development of an equity

culture. Having understood the psychology of the Indian capital markets and the mindset

of Indian investors, he was instrumental in introducing the equity culture in India.

Dhirubhai gave importance to the small investor and his contributions, and by doing so, he

involved millions of middle class investors. Reliance went public in 1977 and had its first

annual general meeting (AGM) in 1977. Reliance Industries had 58000 investors in

1977. So large was Reliance's investor base that at times executives had to go to small

cities, with the share certificates, annual reports and other such correspondence, as

personal luggage, and post them locally. Reliance holds the record for bringing out the

single largest domestic issue of more than Rs21 billion in convertible bonds for Reliance

Petroleum in 1993. The market capitalization of Reliance was Rs 1.2 billion in 1980, which

rose to Rs. 9.96 billion in 1990, and shot up to96.2 billion in 1995, making Dhirubhai one of

the richest men in the world. The end of the High Unit Value scheme of 1978 brought about

a dip in the profits of Reliance.

In spite of this, Dhirubhai declared a dividend of 27 %. Whenever Reliance needed

money to fund its expansion purposes, Dhirubhai opted for a public issue. From 1979 to

1982, Reliance brought out several issues for different purposes like: financing a worsted

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spinning mill, modernizing its already existing textile mill, financing a PFY plant, and

to overcome the bear syndicate crisis respectively. The 1979 issue of Reliance introduced

an innovative financial instrument, the partially convertible debentures. However

Dhirubhai found it difficult to get permission from the controller of special issues.

Dhirubhai argued that this instrument would give investors a guaranteed return and

capital appreciation. He lobbied the government until it accepted the concept. This issue

was oversubscribed 6 times and soon convertible debentures (both partial and whole)

became instruments of choice.

The 1982 issue generated Rs 500 million. It was the biggest issue in those days.

In 1982, Dhirubhai faced threat from a Calcutta based bear syndicate. The bear syndicate

sold 1.1million Reliance shares worth Rs 160 million on March 18, 1982. This was all a part

of their short selling strategy wherein they planned to buy the same shares at a later stage

for cheaper rates, making considerable profits.

The Stock Market Adventure:

However, the bear syndicate seemed to have undermined Dhirubhai Ambani's

capabilities. When the bear syndicate sold Reliance's shares in bulk, Dhirubhai's loyal

brokers bought back all the shares, which led to an increase in the share price. The buying

took place for 3consecutive days and forced the scrip to go up. For the purpose, a new

company called the "Friends of Reliance Association" was registered because according

to the then Indian stock market regulations, a company could not buy back its shares. It

bought 857,000 shares out of the total 1.1 million shares sold by Reliance. After this

incident, Ambani was only waiting for an opportunity to take revenge on the bear

syndicate. The association which bought the shares, sought delivery on 30 April 1982, a

Friday. But as the bear syndicate did not have the shares it asked for more time, which the

association refused and demanded a Rs 50 badla charge. The Bombay Stock Exchange had

to be closed down owing to the situation. The exchange authorities tried in vain to bring

about a compromise between the two parties. And then began the panic buying of Reliance

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shares and the share prices soared to an all time high. By May 10th, the crisis ended.

Dhirubhai finally succeeded in taming the bulls.

Corporate Battles of Dhirubhai Ambani:

Despite his unprecedented

corporate velour, some corporate

bigwigs considered Ambani to be a

manipulator. Critics accused him of

using the "more than the usual" ways

of obtaining licenses, getting quick

approvals for public issues and

capital goods imports, and of getting

policies formulated in favor of Reliance. Dhirubhai and Reliance were accused

of manipulating tariffs to suit their needs and outsmart their rivals.

He was considered to be a symbol of all that was wrong with the Indian economy.

It is said that Ambani used his connections with key politicians and bureaucrats to obtain

licenses and approvals for projects. He is also said to have induced government

intervention by offering bribes and using other forms of lobbying prevalent in the US.

Reliance was known to engage politicians, journalists, and others to increase its sphere of

influence. Some business men described Reliance as "an out of control monster, a bubble

that would burst any moment." However, not all analysts would agree to that. They felt

that Dhirubhai was quick to reco gnize and exploit opportunities. Dhirubhai believed that

"business is nothing but a web of relationships and obligations."Keeping this principle in

mind, Dhirubhai managed to create favorable centers in all the important areas – among

the bureaucrats, the ruling politicians, as well as the media. These were the areas where

power vested.

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Dhirubhai was of the opinion that business was not all about ethics and morality; it

was about expansion and success. His amazing ability to use the state and its policies to his

advantage was responsible for the expansion of Reliance. Be it licenses, foreign exchanges

or quotas, he always succeeded in making the best out of most difficult situations. However,

his immense success earned him a number of enemies. The fight between Nusli Wadia, the

Bombay Dyeing chief and Dhirubhai is well known in the Indian business circles. Both of

them were adept in using their business and political connections to suit their ends. During

the Janata Party rule (1977- 1979), Nusli Wadia obtained the permission to build a

60000 TPA di-methyl terephtalate (DMT) plant. However, before his letter of intent

could be converted into a license, the government changed and when the Congress

government came to power, his license was being delayed (until 1981) with one pretext or

the other. This was the same time when Dhirubhai obtained license to build a PTA plant.

Dhirubhai was also contemplating on building a Paraxylene facility. All this infuriated Nusli

Wadia and marked the beginning of one of the major battles in the history of Indian

business which lasted for several years. In the 80s, Ramnath Goenka, (Goenka) the

proprietor of the Indian Express Group which was into news publication, had often tried to

act as a mediator and solve the conflict between the two corporate giants; but in vain.

Goenka backed Nusli Wadia. He considered the latter his son and at times, urged Dhirubhai

to bring the rivalry to an end.

Even though Dhirubhai promised to do so, he continued his fight with Wadia and

Goenka felt betrayed. Soon, Goenka turned against Dhirubhai and launched a series of press

campaigns against Reliance. Goenka always promised Dhirubhai that he would put an end

to the campaigns being held against him in the press. But the very next moment, he would

scheme another plot against him. The assaults did not stop even when Dhirubhai was

hospitalized after his first stroke in1986. Newspapers, magazines and weekend tabloids

continually attacked Dhirubhai. To counter these attacks, a few weeks later, Reliance issued

15 advertisements in leading newspapers of the country including the Indian Express. The

advertisements contained key statements like "concern for truth", "allegiance to ethics",

and "commitment to growth". Goenka formulated a fresh assault issuing a statement that

Reliance had smuggled extra machines into the country, and therefore had excess

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built capacity. This resulted in a show cause notice from the customs, and a duty and

penalty claim of Rs.1.19 billion on Reliance. In spite of all these attacks, Dhirubhai never

failed to retain public confidence. Slowly, tables started turning against Goenka. In

September 1987, there was a nationwide raid on the Express group, and a number of cases

were filed against it. Dhirubhai was victorious for once. After Goenka's death in 1991, his

son, Vivek Goenka took over. But he did not see much sense in lobbying against Dhirubhai

and this brought to an end the big battle.

Political Battles of Dhirubhai Ambani:

Dhirubhai maintained good relations with Mrs. Indira Gandhi and obtained several

licenses and permissions during her prime ministership. However, after her assassination

in 1984, her son Rajiv Gandhi became the prime minister, and things changed drastically. In

May1985, Vishwanath Pratap Singh (V. P. Singh), the Finance Minister in Rajiv Gandhi's

cabinet, decided to shift PTA imports from the open general license (OGL) category to the

limited permissible list.

This could be the beginning of a new problem for Reliance as it solely depended

upon PTA imports for its PFY plant. Dhirubhai sniffed the news about the imminent change

and moved very fast. Between May 27th – 29th, he tied up with a host of banks, like the

Bombay branches of the Standard Chartered Bank, Société Générale and the State Bank of

India, the Canara Bank and the Banque Indosuez to issue letters of credit for almost a year's

supply of PTA, which were approximately 60,000 tones. These banks issued LCs worth 1.1

billion.

The last LC was opened just a few hours before the government announced the

changed policy. The Finance Minister was not too happy with Dhirubhai and the result was

a 50 percent import duty on PTA. This further nullified Dhirubhai's gains. In June 1986,

Reliance was considering the conversion of its non-convertible debentures into convertible

ones for the second time. This would help improve the company's debt equity ratio, reduce

Page | 20

the outflow of interest, and increase the inflow of funds. But V P Singh was against it. But

once V.P Singh was transferred from the Finance Ministry to the Defence Ministry, the

conversion of the debentures into shares was permitted and the pending licenses were

cleared. October 1986 turned out to be quite favorable for Reliance. The debenture

conversion move proved highly beneficial. A secret meeting between Dhirubhai and Rajiv

Gandhi seemed to trigger off a series of decisions in favour of Reliance. Some more pending

licenses were cleared. The customs levy of Rs 3 on each kilogram of PTA was abolished, and

the Patal Ganga complex was granted refinery status thus, enabling it to pay a low level of

excise duties for raw materials like naphtha.

Reliance without Dhirubhai:

In 2002, the Reliance group with

a turnover of Rs 620 billion, assets worth Rs

564.85billion, and a work force of over

85,000 people accounted for 5% of the Central

Government's total revenue. It contributed 3 %

of India's GDP, 5 % of the total exports, and 9 %

of the GoI's indirect tax revenues. Reliance also

accounted for 25 % of India's total private sector profits. Reliance secured nearly 10 % of

the profits of the entire corporate sector in India. Moreover, one out of eve ry four

investors was a shareholder of Reliance. Reliance acquired IPCL, the Indian petrochemical

giant. This acquisition gave Reliance a sound footing in the global petrochemicals market.

By 2004, it plans to take over more than 35 % of the global market. This would make

Reliance the 11th largest polymer producer in the world. With the amalgamation of RPL

with RIL, Reliance became the only company in the world to have fully integrated world

scale operations in oil and gas exploration and production, refining and marketing,

petrochemicals, power and textiles.

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Presently Reliance enjoys global ranking in all major businesses and its shares lead

the domestic market. According to the global Fortune 500 rankings, Reliance ranks

amongst the top 200 companies in terms of net profit, amongst the top 300 in terms of net

worth, amongst the top 425 in terms of total assets, and amongst the top 500 in terms of

sales.

Reliance Mobile, the new venture of Reliance provides cellular telephony services in

13Indian states, and Reliance Basic holds the license to provide fixed line telecom services

in the state of Gujarat. With the launch of Reliance Infocomm, Reliance has taken another

major step in its continuous search for growth and excellence. It was Dhirubhai's dream to

provide information technology and communication facilities to the common man, at

affordable prices. The Infocomm revolution will cover thousands of villages across the

country by 2003. Reliance Power intends to pursue opportunities in the power sector with

an objective to achieve over 10,000 MW in the next decade. With Reliance General

Insurance and Reliance Life Insurance, the group has also entered into the insurance sector.

Dhirubhai's entrepreneurial abilities enabled Reliance to progress on the roads to success

both in the licensing era as well as in the era of liberalization, privatization and

globalization. He faced the toughest battles with the toughest of politicians and bureaucrats

and was eventually successful in gaining a victory over all his political and corporate rivals.

His business ideologies have been praised and are being emulated the world over (Refer

Exhibit VI, for Management Mantras of Dhirubhai and Exhibit VII for achievements of

Dhirubhai).Some skeptics believe that Reliance would no longer be the same after

Dhirubhai.

The extraordinary growth of the company was based on the vision, energy and

lobbying power of Dhirubhai as well as the willingness and ability of the Indian

government to promote its expansion. The competition now is with major multinational

players whose ability to influence governments in various ways is well known. Right from

the time he suffered his first stroke in 1986; Dhirubhai groomed his sons Mukesh and

Anil Ambani to take care of the day-to-day operations of Reliance. It was from Dhirubhai

that his sons imbibed the quality to think big. Mukesh's skills were quite evident from his

Page | 22

successful management of the Patalganga and Jamnagar projects and Anil was adept at the

finances. Despite their elite education, their most important training came from Dhirubhai.

He provided them with a strategic vision. His sons always considered themselves as co –

builders rather than inheritors of Reliance. Dhirubhai's words way back in 1993 reflected

the immense confidence he restored in his sons, "Reliance can now run without me." After

his demise, Mukesh was appointed the Chairman and Managing Director of the Reliance

group while Anil became the Vice Chairman. It remains to be seen whether Reliance will

maintain its lead and growth over large multinationals in years to come.

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DHIRUBHAI AMBANI – THE MAN I KNEW

By KOKILABEN

Behind every successful man, so goes the saying, there is usually a woman. In the life

of the legendary Dhirubhai Ambani, that woman was his wife, Kokilaben. She was his fount

of inspiration and support in a life that began in extremely trying and modest

circumstances but blossomed into the greatest ever success story in the annals of Indian

industry.

The memoirs depict the remarkable life of Dhirubhai Ambani in all its richness,

beginning with his childhood in the village of Chorwad to his early youth in the 1950s as a

migrant worker in Aden, then a British Colony, to his later years as one of India s great‟

industrial visionaries.

I had never seen him in a miserable or a desperate state of mind. That does not

mean he never faced difficulties. But when engulfed by difficulty, he used to resolve it with

courage and imagination.”

Kokilaben’s insights into their life together

draw upon reminiscences, and information about

their early years and through it one man’s

determination, resolve and struggle to reach the very

pinnacle of success.

Few industrialists have had the kind of impact

on the people of India that Dhirubhai Ambani had.

Hailed as the ‘Man of the Century’, he established an

empire that was to change the face of Indian industry.

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In his private life too, Dhirubhai fulfilled every role and responsibility with aplomb.

He was a caring husband, a loving father, an indulgent grandfather and a loyal friend. He

devoted a great deal of time and energy to his children’s learning and to the development of

their personalities. Every day, over dinner, he would take time out to update him on what

his children were doing (and learning) and to encourage them to further expand their

horizons.

He took the word ‘impossible’ out of his grandchildren’s vocabulary and inspired

them to see the world as a place of exciting and limitless opportunity – a place where you

could make things happen not because you were wealthy but because you were had the

courage, boldness and initiative. In doing so, he bequeathed to them a legacy far more

precious than what any wealth could bestow.

Talking of the reasons behind her decision to write on Dhirubhai, Kokilaben says, “I

felt, all these facts from his life should be recorded for posterity. The world has seen him as

a successful industrialist; but I have seen him in the role of an excellent man. I wanted to

draw his personality as a humane individual, and that’s how I was inspired to write this

book”.

Dhirubhai held dear the accolades he received, but the Wharton Dean’s Medal was

especially significant as he was the first Indian to receive it.

On the occasion of the first Dhirubhai Ambani Memorial Lecture held in Mumbai, Dr. A.P.J

Abdul Kalam, President of India, had talked of Dhirubhai as a man whose “guiding hand and

loving nature” will always be missed. The book will go some way in making up for that

sense of loss.

The Bhagwad Gita states “The actions of a great man are an inspiration for others.

Whatever he does becomes a standard for others to follow”.

One hopes this book will bring Dhirubhai closer to the people so that his life and

actions become an inspiration and a standard for others to follow.

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FAMOUS QUOTES OF MR. DHIRUBHAI AMBANI

From beginning Dhirubhai was seen in high-regard. His success in the petro-

chemical business and his story of rags to riches made him a cult figure in the minds of

Indian people. As a quality of business leader he was also a motivator. He gave few public

speeches but the words he spoke are still remembered for their value.

"Growth has no limit at Reliance. I keep revising my vision. Only when you dream

it you can do it."

"Think big, think fast, think ahead. Ideas are no one's monopoly"

"Our dreams have to be bigger. Our ambitions higher. Our commitment deeper.

And our efforts greater. This is my dream for Reliance and for India."

"You do not require an invitation to make profits."

"If you work with determination and with perfection, success will follow."

"Pursue your goals even in the face of difficulties, and convert adversities into

opportunities."

"Give the youth a proper environment. Motivate them. Extend them the support

they need. Each one of them has infinite source of energy. They will delve

between my past, the present and the future, there is one common factor:

Relationship and Trust. This is the foundation of our growth"

Page | 26

"We bet on people."

"Meeting the deadlines is not good enough, beating the deadlines is my

expectation."

"Don't give up, courage is my conviction”

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DHIRUBHAISM – Management lessons

from Dhirubhai Ambani

Roll up your sleeves and help

You and your team share the same DNA.

Reliance, during Vimal’s heady days had organized a fashion show at the Convention Hall,

at Ashoka Hotel in New Delhi.

As usual, every seat in the hall was taken, and there were an equal number of impatient

guests outside, waiting to be seated. I was of course completely besieged, trying to handle

the ensuing confusion, chaos and protests, when to my amazement and relief, I saw

Dhirubhai at the door trying to pacify the guests.

Dhirubhai at that time was already a name to reckon

with and a VIP himself, but that did not stop him

from rolling up his sleeves and diving in to rescue a

situation that had gone out of control. Most bosses

in his place would have driven up in their swank

cars at the last moment and given the manager a

piece of their minds. Not Dhirubhai.

When things went wrong, he was the first person to

sense that the circumstances would have been beyond his team’s control, rather than it

being a sl ip on their part, as he trusted their capabilities implicitly. His first instinct was

always to join his men in putting out the fire and not crucifying them for it. Sounds too good

a boss to be true, doesn’t he? But then, that was Dhirubhai.

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Be a safety net for your team

There used to be a time when our agency Mudra was the target of some extremely vicious

propaganda by our peers, when on an almost daily basis my business ethics were put on

trial.  I, on my part, putting on a brave front, never raised this subject during any of my

meetings with Dhirubhai.

But one day, during a particularly nasty spell, he gently asked me if I needed any help in

combating it. That did it. That was all the help that I needed. Overwhelmed by his concern

and compassion, I told him I could cope, but the knowledge that he knew and cared for

what I was going through, and that he was there for me if I ever needed him, worked

wonders for my confidence.

I went back a much taller man fully armed to face whatever came my way. By letting us

know that he was always aware of the trials we underwent and that he was by our side

through it all, he gave us the courage we never knew we had.

The silent benefactor

This was another of his remarkable traits. When he helped someone, he never ever

breathed a word about it to anyone else. There have been none among us who haven’t

known his kindness, yet he never went around broadcasting it.

He never used charity as a platform to gain publicity. Sometimes, he would even go to the

extent of not letting the recipient know who the donor was. Such was the extent of his

generosity. ‘Expect the unexpected’ just might have been coined for him

Dream big, but dream with your eyes open

His phenomenal achievement showed India that limitations were only in the mind. And

that nothing was truly unattainable for those who dreamed big.

Page | 29

Whenever I tried to point out to him that a task seemed too big to be accomplished, he

would reply: ‘No is no answer!’ Not only did he dream big, he taught all of us to do so too.

His one-line brief to me when we began Mudra was: ‘Make Vimal’s advertising the

benchmark for fashion advertising in the country.’

At that time, we were just a tiny, fledgling agency, tucked away in Ahmedabad, struggling to

put a team in place. When we presented the seemingly insurmountable to him, his favourite

response was always: ‘It’s difficult but not impossible!’ And he was right. We did go on to

achieve the impossible.

Both in its size and scope Vimal’s fashion shows were unprecedented in the country. Grand

showroom openings, stunning experiments in print and poster work all combined to give

the brand a truly benchmark image. But way back in 1980, no one would have believed it

could have ever been possible. Except Dhirubhai.

But though he dreamed big, he was able to clearly distinguish between perception and

reality and his favorite phrase ‘dream with your eyes open’ underlined this.

He never let preset norms govern his vision, yet he worked night and day familiarizing

himself with every little nitty-gritty that constituted his dreams constantly sifting the

wheat from the chaff. This is how, as he put it, even though he dreamed, none of his dreams

turned into nightmares. And this is what gave him the courage to move from one orbit to

the next despite tremendous odds.

Dhirubhai was indeed a man of many parts, as is evident. I am sure there are many people

who display some of the traits mentioned above, in their working styles as well, but

Dhirubhai was one of those rare people who demonstrated all of them, all the time.

Leave the professional alone

Much as people would like to believe, most owners [even managers and clients], though

eager to hire the best professionals in the field, do so and then use them as extensions of

their own personality. Every time I come across this, which is much too often, I am

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reminded of how Dhirubhai’s management techniques used to be [and still remain] so

refreshingly different.

For instance, way back in the late 1970s when we decided to open an agency of our own, he

asked me to name it. I carried a short list of three names, two Westernized and one Indian.

It was a very different world back then. Everything Anglicized was considered ‘up market.’

There were hardly any agencies with Indian names barring my own ex-agency Shilpi and a

few others like Ulka and Sistas. He looked at the list and asked me what my choice was. I

said ‘Mudra’: it was the only name that suited my personality. And the spirit of the agency

that I was to head.

I was very Indian and an Anglicized name on my visiting card would seem pretentious and

contrived. No further questions were asked. No suggestions offered, just a plain and simple

‘Go ahead and do it.’ That was just the beginning.

He continued to give me total freedom — no supervision, no policing — in all my decisions

thereafter. In fact, the only direction that he gave me, just once, was this: ‘Produce your

best.’

His utter trust in me was what pushed me to never, ever let him down. I guess the simplest

strategies are often the hardest to adopt. That was the secret of the Dhirubhai legend. It

was not out of a book. It was a skillful blend of head and heart.

Change your orbit, constantly

To understand this statement, let me explain Dhirubhai’s ‘orbit theory.’

He would often explain that we are all born into an orbit. It is up to us to progress to the

next. We could choose to live and die in the orbit that we are born in. But that would be a

criminal waste of potential. When we push ourselves into the next orbit, we benefit not

only ourselves but everyone connected with us.

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Take India’s push for development. There was once a time our country’s growth rate was

just 4 per cent, sarcastically referred to as the ‘Hindu growth rate.’ Look at us today,

galloping along at a healthy 7-8 per cent.

This is no miracle. It is the product of a handful of determined orbit changers like

Dhirubhai, all of whose efforts have benefited a larger sphere in their respective fields.

In a small way, I too have experienced the thrill of changing orbits with Mudra. In the

1980s, we leapt from the orbit of a small Ahmedabad ad agency to become the country’s

third largest ad agency — in just under a decade.

However, when you change orbits, you will create friction. The good news is that your

enemies from your previous orbit will never be able to reach you in your new one. By the

time resentment builds up in your new orbit, you should move to the next level. And so on.

Changing orbits is the key to our progress as a nation.

The arm-around-the-shoulder leader

I have never seen any other empire builder nor the CEO of any big organization do this.

It was Dhirubhai’s very own signature style. Whenever I went to meet him and if on that

day, all the time that he could spare me was a short walk up to his car, he would instantly

put his arm around me and proceed to discuss the issues at hand as we walked.

With that one simple gesture, he managed to achieve many things. I was put at ease

instantaneously. I was made to feel like an equal who was loved and important enough to

be considered close to him. And I would walk away from that meeting feeling so good about

myself and the work I was doing!

This tendency that he had, to draw people towards him, manifested itself in countless ways.

This was just one of them. He would never, ever exude an air of aloofness and exclusivity.

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He was always inviting people into sharing their thoughts and ideas, rather than shutting

them out.

On hindsight I think, it must have required phenomenal generosity of spirit to be that

inclusive. Yes, this was one of the things that was uniquely Dhirubhai — that warm arm

around my shoulder that did much more than words in letting me know that I belonged,

that I had his trust, and that I had him on my side!

The Dhirubhai theory of Supply creating Demand

He was not an MBA. Nor an economist. But yet he took traditional market theory and stood

it on its head. And succeeded.

Yes, at a time when everyone in India would build capacities only after a careful study of

market expectations, he went full steam ahead and created giants of manufacturing plants

with unbelievable capacities. [Initial cap of Reliance Patalganga was 10,000 tonnes of PFY

way back in 1980, while the market in India for it was approx. 6000 tonnes].

No doubt his instinct was backed by years and years of reading, studying market trends,

careful listening and his own honed capacity to forecast, but yet despite all this

preparation, it required undeniable guts to pioneer such a revolutionary move.

The consequence was that the market blossomed to absorb supply, the consumer benefited

with prices crashing down, the players increased and our economic landscape changed for

the better. The Patalganga plant was in no time humming at maximum capacity and as a

result of the plant’s economies of scale, Dhirubhai’s conversion cost of the yarn in 1994

came down to 18 cents per pound, as compared to Western Europe’s 34 cents, North

America’s 29 cents and the Far East’s 23 cents and Reliance was exporting the yarn back to

the US!

A more recent example was that of Mukesh Ambani taking this vision forward with

Reliance Infocomm [which is now handled by Anil Ambani]. In India’s mobile telephony

timeline there will always be a very clear ‘before Infocomm and after Infocomm’

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segmentation. The numbers say it all. In Jan 2003, the mobile subscriber base was 13

million, about 16 months later, shortly after the launch, it had reached 30 million.

In March 2006, it has touched 90 million! Yes, this was yet another unusual skill of

Dhirubhai’s — his uncanny knack of knowing exactly how the market is going to behave.

Money is not a product by itself, it is a by-product, so don’t chase it

This was a belief by which Dhirubhai lived all his life. For instance when he briefed me

about setting up Mudra, his instruction was clear: ‘Produce the best textile advertising in

the country,’ he said.

He did not breathe a word about profits, nor about becoming the richest ad agency in the

country. Great advertising was the goal that he set for me. A by-product is something that

you don’t set out to produce. It is the spin off when you create something larger.

When you turn logs into lumber, sawdust is your by-product and a pretty lucrative one it

can be too! It is a very simple analogy but extremely effective in driving the point home.

Work toward a goal beyond your bank balance.

Success in attaining that goal will eventually ring in the cash. For instance, if you work

towards creating a name for yourself and earning a good reputation, then money is a logical

outcome.

People will pay for your product or service if it is good. But if you get your priorities slightly

mixed up, not only will the money you make remain just a quick buck it would in all

likelihood blacklist you for good. Sounds too simplistic for belief? Well, look around you

and you will know exactly how true it is.

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Conclusion

India is fortunate to have a number of trailblazers who established giant industries

in India which prospered by their special managerial skills acquired through practice or

through brain waves or through hereditary excellence of business background. These

include Tatas, Birlas, Khaitans, Goenkas, Bajajs, Ambanis, Jindals, Mittals, Ruias,

Mirchandanis and individuals like Vijay Mallya and Bhai Mohan Singh of Ranbaxy. Their

descendants today control more than Rs. 800billion through 600 companies employing

about one lakh people. We use their products day in and day out whether it is consumer

durables, electronics, basic necessities and luxuries of life.

One of the greatest businessmen India has produced is Dhirubhai Ambani, a

synonym for Reliance and Vimal. For his vision, leadership qualities, trailblazing

characteristics and go-getting approaches, which have all put Reliance and his sons now at

the top of the richest people in the world, out team have selected Dhirubhai Ambani as a

quintessential representative of a specific leadership style which, among other things, will

be explained in detail in this term paper. For a matriculate from a middle class family starting his

trading life in Africa with M/s. Besse &Company, a small sub-division of Shell, rising to the

pinnacles of business excellence hardly in three decades speaks volumes of the qualities of

head and heart which guided Dhirubhai Ambani in his long but eventful journey through

the corridors of yarn markets, trading, textiles, petrochemicals, polyester manufacturing

and what not, thus embracing and encompassing all possible business areas which

guaranteed a good profit and best value for money, not only for his family members, but for

the millions of his shareholders.

It was a unique spectacle that the annual general body meetings of Reliance were

always held in open auditoria or maidans just because thousands had to be accommodated

is still one of the most unique phenomena in the Indian business scenario.

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