Success Story Of Dhirubhai Ambani, Founder of Reliance Group – Building Reliance from the Ground Up

Success Story Of Dhirubhai Ambani, Founder of Reliance Group – Building Reliance from the Ground Up

Dhirubhai Ambani

Success Story Of Dhirubhai Ambani, Founder of Reliance Group

Dhirajlal Hirachand Ambani is one of the greatest industrialists in Indian history. He can be credited with reshaping the textile industry of India. Born on 28 December 1932, in British India, to Hirachand Gordhanbhai Ambani, a humble school teacher, and Jamnaben Ambani in a small village of Junagarh district in Gujarat. Being born into a Baniya family, his aspirations were always to build a successful business of his own.

His determination has resulted in the birth of one of the biggest conglomerates, Reliance Industries. Dhirubhai Ambani was known for his determination, entrepreneurial spirit, and innovation that helped him to revolutionize the business landscape of India.

Determined to do something as soon as completing his education from Bahadur Kanji School, he left for Aden, currently Yemen, to try his luck there. Dhirubhai Ambani started working as a clerk in a trading firm. Here he gained a lot of knowledge and insights in how to run a business. At just the age of 16, he was earning ₹300 monthly as a salary far away from home. In his life, he understood the importance of working hard. He even worked as a petrol pump attendant. Eventually, he started working at A. Besse & Co. for a short period of time and gained a lot of crucial business insights. Here he learned a lot of skills but didn’t receive any remuneration from the company.

After working hard in Yemen, he decided to come back to India and start a business of his own in 1958. At that time, he just had ₹500 with him, and still he wished to have his own business. During his initial days, he was living in a single room in a chawl in Mumbai with his family. Here, he would trade in different kinds of products like spices, fabrics, nylon, etc. He went in partnership with his cousin, Champaklal Damani, with whom he used to stay in Yemen. They used to import and export polyester and other fabrics to Yemen.

In a small office with one table, four chairs, and a telephone, he founded Reliance Corporation in 1960 in Masjid Bunder. During the initial year, he and his cousin had a lot of differences of opinion, which eventually led to their partnership ending in 1965.

Dhirubhai Ambani realized the potential in the textile industry and grabbed the opportunity by starting a textile mill by the name of Vimal in Ahmedabad.

Dhirubhai Ambani went public with Reliance Industries in 1977. Within the initial years, the company had an annual turnover of Rs 70 crore. Due to the immense success of Relience Industries, their initial public offering went on to become mega successful.

In the 1980s, when he understood the requirement of diversification, he tapped into the potential of the petrochemical industry and started the construction of Jamnagar Refinery, which placed reliance as a number-one oil and gas producer in the industry.

Dhirubhai Ambani was a man of great essence. He believed in a culture of innovation and empowerment amongst his employees. He was a customer-centric entrepreneur who was also committed to social causes. He had various charitable initiatives towards healthcare and education. His philanthropic work had impacted positively towards the development of rural India. In 1986, Dhirubhai Ambani suffered a major stroke, due to which his right hand got paralyzed. At the time, he decided to hand over his businesses to his sons, Anil Ambani and Mukesh Ambani. In June 2002, he again suffered a major stroke, due to which he was admitted to the Breach Candy Hospital in Mumbai. The founder of Reliance Industries marked his last day on earth on July 6.

Dhirubhai Ambani had various achievements under his name. In 1998, he was the only industrialist from India to be featured in this list of the Power 50: the most powerful people in Asia. He was the first Indian to receive the Wharton School Dean’s Medal from the Pennsylvania University. He was also awarded the title of Man of the Century by FICCI in 2000. Reliance Industries, in the year 2001, became the first Indian private company to be added to the list of Forbes International 500 companies’ list. In July 2016, Dhirubhai was awarded India’s second highest civilian award, Padma Vibhushan, which was collected by his wife, Kokila Dhirubhai Ambani. Today, Reliance Industries has become one of the top conglomerates in the world. The Polyester Prince’s journey teaches us to dream big, even in the hard times. The late industrialist faced various accusations like tax evasion, cronyism, market manipulation, etc., but no one can deny that Dhirubhai Ambani, the founder of Reliance Group, has a huge credit in shaping the business world of India.