Dhirubhai Ambani

He married Kokilaben in 1954. The couple was blessed with four children, Anil Ambani, Mukesh Ambani, Nina Kothari and Deepti Salgaonkar.

A stroke in 1986 somewhat slowed him down and he handed over the reins of the company to his sons.

He breathed his last on July 6, 2002, after a major stroke.

Dihrubhai Ambani was born in a Modh baniya family to Hirachand Govardhandas Ambani and Jamanaben in the village of Chorwad in the district of Junagarh. His father was employed as a school teacher while his mother was a homemaker.

Raised in frugal living conditions, right from an early age, he was aware of the insufficiencies that the family dealt with due to the meagre income of his father and large expenses.

While at school at Junagarh, he was elected as the General Secretary of the Junagarh State Union. He organized a rally on Indian Independence Day, defying the rules of the Nawab, head of the state.

Next, he became a part of the Praja Mandal Movement that organized rallies to bring about constitutional reforms in the state. The result was the fleeing of the Nawab to Pakistan and Junagarh being a part of the Indian Union. It was his passion and active political involvement that brought him to the notice of political leaders.

In 1949, a new Socialist party emerged from the Congress of which he found himself a part of. For the upcoming municipal elections in Junagarh, he started campaigning for his favourite candidates, which eventually resulted in their victory. Though he was offered a place in the Party, he declined the offer to walk on road of his true calling.

At Aden, he took up a clerical job at A. Besse & Co, the largest transcontinental trading firm east of Suez. The company dealt with trading all sorts of goods to European, American, African and Asian companies.

Curious to learn the tricks of the trade, he soon started working simultaneously for a Gujarati trading firm. It was there that he learnt accounting, book keeping and preparing shipping papers and documents. He also acquired the skill of dealing with banks and insurance companies.

Soon he took to speculative trading, in all sorts of goods and made profitable deals, a fact which made his competitors think of him having a knack for trade. He was then promoted to the oil filling station at the newly built harbour. It was therein that thoughts of building a refinery first shaped his dream.

Meanwhile, Yemeni movement for independence curtailed opportunities for Indians living in Aden. Thus, he moved back to India in 1958 and started exploring business opportunities in Bombay.

Since he could not make large investments, he settled as a spice trader under the name Reliance Commercial Corporations. He soon started trading spices, sugar, jaggery, betel nuts and such to Gulf Emirates. He focused on low profits, high volumes and rich quality.

He was the mastermind, the initiator, conceptualizer and the visualizer behind Reliance Group. Starting off as a mere yarn dealer, he wrote history by establishing Reliance Industries at grassroot level and making it the largest business conglomerate in India.

Dhirubhai revolutionized the way capital market functioned by drawing large amount of retail investors in a market till then dominated by financial institutions. He shaped the 'equity culture' in India and generated billions of rupees in wealth for those who put their trust in his companies.

Reliance was the first Indian company to feature in Forbes 500 list.