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: Dhirubhai Ambani : :
'Dhirajlal
Hirachand Ambani' was born on
28 December 1932, at Chorwad, Junagadh in the state of Gujarat,
India, into a Modh family of very moderate means. He was
the second son of a school teacher. When he was 16 years
old, he moved to Aden,Yemen. Initially, Dhirubhai worked
as a dispatch clerk with A. Besse & Co. Two years later
A. Besse & Co.became the distributors for Shell products
and Dhirubhai was promoted to manage the company’s oil-filling
station at the port of Aden.He was married to Kokilaben
and had two sons and two daughters. He also worked in Dubai
for some time during his early years
Reliance
Commercial Corporation
Ten
years later, Dhirubai returned to India and started the
Reliance Commercial Corporation with a capital of Rs. 15,000
The
primary business of Reliance Commercial Corporation was
to import polyester yarn and export spices.
The
business was setup in partnership with Champaklal Damani,
his second cousin, who used to be with him in Aden, Yemen.
The
first office of the Reliance Commercial Corporation was
set up at the Narsinathan Street in Masjid Bunder.
It
was a 350 Sq. Ft. room with a telephone, one table and three
chairs. Initially, they had two assistants to help them
with their business. In 1965, Champaklal Damani and Dhirubhai
Ambani ended their partnership and Dhirubhai started on
his own.
It
is believed that both had different temperaments and a different
take on how to conduct business.
While
Mr. Damani was a cautious trader and did not believe in
building yarn inventories,
Dhirubhai
was a known risk taker and he considered that building inventories,
anticipating a price rise, and making profits through that
was good for growth
Reliance
Textiles
Sensing a good opportunity in the textile business, Dhirubhai
started his first textile mill at Naroda, near Ahmedabad
in the year 1966. Textiles were manufactured using polyester
fibre yarn. Dhirubhai started the brand "Vimal", which was
named after his elder brother Ramaniklal Ambani's son, Vimal
Ambani. Extensive marketing of the brand "Vimal" in the
interiors of India made it a household name. Franchise retail
outlets were started and they used to sell "only Vimal"
brand of textiles. In the year 1975, a Technical team from
the World Bank visited the Reliance Textiles' Manufacturing
unit. This unit has the rare distinction of being certified
as "excellent even by developed country standards" during
that period
Initial
Public Offering
Dhirubhai Ambani is credited with starting the equity cult
in India. More than 58,000 investors from various parts
of India subscribed to Reliance's IPO in 1977. Dhirubhai
was able to convince people of rural Gujarat that being
shareholders of his company will only bring returns to their
investment.
Reliance
Industries holds the distinction that it is the only Public
Limited Company whose several Annual General Meetings were
held in stadiums. In 1986, The Annual General Meeting of
Reliance Industries was held in Cross Maidan, Mumbai and
was attended by more than 35,000 shareholders and the Reliance
family.
Death
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Dhirubhai
Ambani was admitted to the Breach Candy Hospital in
Mumbai on June 24, 2002 after he suffered a major
"brain stroke". This was his second stroke, the first
one had occurred in February 1986 and had kept his
right hand paralyzed. He was in a state of coma for
more than a week. A battery of doctors were unable
to save his life. He breathed his last on July 6,
2002, at around 11:50 P.M. (Indian Standard Time).
His
funeral procession was not only attended by business
people, politicians and celebrities but also by thousands
of ordinary people. His elder son, Mukesh Ambani,
performed the last rites as per Hindu traditions.
He was cremated at the Chandanwadi Crematorium in
Mumbai at around 4:30 PM (Indian Standard Time) on
July 7, 2002.
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He is survived by Kokilaben Ambani, his wife, two sons,
Mukesh Ambani and Anil Ambani, and two daughters, Nina Kothari
and Deepti Salgaocar.
Dhirubhai
Ambani started his long journey in Bombay from the Mulji-Jetha
Textile Market, where he started as a small-trader. As a
mark of respect to this great businessman, The Mumbai Textile
Merchants' decided to keep the market closed on July 8,
2002. At the time of Dhirubhai's death, Reliance Group had
a gross turnover of Rs. 75,000 Crore or USD $ 15 Billion.
In 1976-77, the Reliance group had an annual turnover of
Rs 70 crore and Dhirubhai had started the business with
Rs.15,000
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