Anil Ambani: The Rise and Fall from $42 Billion to $0
Discover the shocking story of Indian businessman Anil Ambani's descent from billionaire status to insolvency. Explore the events leading to his financial downfall, including sibling rivalry, jail scandals, and mounting debts reaching $7 billion.
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We all love a story of rags to riches.
But how many times have you heard about someone going from multi-billion dollar riches to empty pocket rags?
Well, that's exactly what happened to Indian businessman Anil Ambani.
From the most expensive sibling rivalry in the world to jail bailout scandals and a mind-boggling $7 billion debt.
Here's how one man went from $42 billion to zero.
Ambani Rising So who exactly is Anil Ambani and how did
he fall so far?
Well, to get an understanding, first we need to take a trip back in time to mid-20th century
India.
Anil was born in Mumbai, then known as Bombay, on June 4, 1959, the youngest son of the founder
of one of the most powerful companies on the planet, Dhirubhai Ambani.
At the age of 17, Derebako...
Dhirubhai had migrated from India to Aden in Yemen to start his career as a clerk at
Bessien Co., a large trading firm.
Here he learned skills in trading and accounting and got a taste for entrepreneurship.
Ready to strike out on his own, Dhirubhai returned to India in 1958, where he started
his own business trading spices, which eventually developed into his venture Reliance Commercial
Corporation.
While Dhirubhai and his wife Koki Laban had already had their first son Mukesh on April
19, 1957, once back in India, they welcomed little Anil.
As a young family, the Ambani's were living in a humble two-bedroom apartment at the Jai
Hind Estate in Bileshwar, Mumbai.
But Dhirubhai's business was on the up.
He soon expanded into the textiles industry and followed a strategy of offering high-quality
products at a much lower cost than his competitors.
This risky approach, which depended on high-volume sales to be profitable, was a raging success.
and saw business grow quickly. Soon, Dhirubhai was able to move the Ambani clan into a six-story
apartment in the Ushakiran building, Mumbai. Considering his humble beginnings, Dhirubhai
was determined that his sons should learn the value of hard work and would often organize
incentive-oriented family outings. Anil later recalled that he and his elder brother would go
out on challenging six-mile treks in the pouring rain and receive a box of mangoes as a reward,
to show them that hard work and determination pays off.
But we'll soon see how successfully those attempts to inspire business savviness worked
out for each of Dhirubhai's sons.
By the 1980s, Reliance had begun to expand into other industries, including the profitable
industry of petrochemicals.
By 1983, Reliance had gone from a single, minimal office in Mumbai to being worth $122
million.
dollars. As profit continued to pile in, Dhirubhai purchased a colossal 14-story
house.
high-rise property in Kuff Parade, a significant business district in Mumbai, which became
the official Ambani family home.
There was never any question of whether brothers Anil and Mukesh would join the family business,
and by their mid-twenties, both had important roles within Reliance Industries.
Aged just 24 at the time of their respective inductions into Reliance, Mukesh joined in
1981 as a hands-on facilities manager, and Anil came through the door in 1983 as an executive.
dealing with business investors in the press.
The roles suited each man perfectly.
Mukesh was the more low-key, rigidly focused businessman
who liked spending his evenings in
