Ratan Tata

Ratan Naval Tata
Ratan Tata
Born	December 28, 1937 (1937-12-28) (age 71) Mumbai, India
Residence	Mumbai, India
Nationality	India
Ethnicity	Parsi
Citizenship	India
Education	Architecture and Structural Engineering
Occupation	Chairman of Tata Group
Employer	Self-Employed, Tata Group
Home town	Mumbai, India
Religious beliefs	Zoroastrianism
Spouse(s)	Never married
Children	None

Ratan Naval Tata (born December 28, 1937, in Surat) is the present Chairman of the Tata Group, India's largest conglomerate founded by Jamsedji Tata and consolidated and expanded by later generations of his family.

Early life

Tata was born into the wealthy famous Tata family of Mumbai. He was born to Soonoo and Naval Hormusji Tata. Ratan is the great grandson of Tata group founder Jamsetji Tata. Ratan's childhood was troubled, his parents separating in the mid-1940s, when he was about seven and his younger brother Jimmy was five. His mother moved out and both Ratan and his brother were raised by their grandmother Lady Navajbai.

Early career

Ratan Tata completed a BS degree in architecture with structural engineering from Cornell University in 1962, and the Advanced Management Program from Harvard Business School in 1975. He joined the Tata Group in December 1962, after turning down a job with IBM on the advice of JRD Tata. He was first sent to Jamshedpur to work at Tata Steel. He worked on the floor along with other blue-collar employees, shoveling limestone and handling the blast furnaces.^[1] Ratan Tata, a shy man, rarely features in the society glossies, has lived for years in a book-crammed, dog-filled bachelor flat in Mumbai's Colaba district.^[2][3]

Wealth

Ratan Tata has his own capital in Tata Sons., the holding company of the group. His share is around 1%, valuing his personal holding at approximately US$ 1 Billion. About 66% of the equity capital of Tata Sons is held by philanthropic trusts endowed by members of the Tata family. The biggest two of these trusts are the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust and the Sir Ratan Tata Trust, which were created by the families of the sons of Jamshedji Tata. Ratan Tata is on the board of trustees of the Sir Ratan Tata Trust, and is the chairman of the board of trustees of the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust, giving him significant influence on the board of Tata Sons, despite his minority personal shareholding.If we put this 66% ownership of Tata Sons in Ratan TATA’s own personal financial statement then Ratan Tata’s Net worth can become more than $70 billion. and that’s much more than the Warren Buffet’s Current Net Worth of $ 62 billion, the world’s richest person according to Forbes magazine 2008.

Career

JRD Tata with his successor Ratan Tata

In 1971, Ratan was appointed the Director-in-Charge of The National Radio & Electronics Company Limited (Nelco), a company that was in dire financial difficulty. Ratan suggested that the company invest in developing high-technology products, rather than in consumer electronics. J.R.D. was reluctant due to the historical financial performance of Nelco which had never even paid regular dividends. Further, Nelco had 2% market share in the consumer electronics market and a loss margin of 40% of sales when Ratan took over. Nonetheless, J. R. D. followed Ratan's suggestions.

From 1972 to 1975, Nelco eventually grew to have a market share of 20%, and recovered its losses. In 1975 however, India's Prime Minister Indira Gandhi declared a state of emergency, which led to an economic recession. This was followed by union problems in 1977, so even after demand improved, production did not keep up. Finally, the Tatas confronted the unions and, following a strike, a lockout was imposed for seven months. Ratan continued to believe in the fundamental soundness of Nelco, but the venture did not survive.

In 1977, Ratan was entrusted with Empress Mills, a textile mill controlled by the Tatas. When he took charge of the company, it was one of the few sick units in the Tata group. Ratan managed to turn it around and even declared a dividend. However, competition from less labour-intensive enterprises had made a number of companies unviable, including those like the Empress which had large labour contingents and had spent too little on modernisation. On Ratan's insistence, some investment was made, but it did not suffice. As the market for coarse and medium cotton cloth (which was all that the Empress produced) turned adverse, the Empress began to accumulate heavier losses. Bombay House, the Tata headquarters, was unwilling to divert funds from other group companies into an undertaking which would need to be nursed for a long time. So, some Tata directors, chiefly Nani Palkhivala, took the line that the Tatas should liquidate the mill, which was finally closed down in 1986. Ratan was severely disappointed with the decision, and in a later interview with the Hindustan Times would claim that the Empress had needed just Rs 50 lakhs to turn it around.

In 1981, Ratan was named director of Tata Industries, the Group's other holding company, where he became responsible for transforming it into the Group's strategy think-tank and a promoter of new ventures in high-technology businesses.

In 1991, he took over as group chairman from J.R.D. Tata, pushing out the old guard and ushering in younger managers. Since then, he has been instrumental in reshaping the fortunes of the Tata Group, which today has the largest market capitalization of any business house on the Indian Stock Market.

Under Ratan's guidance, Tata Consultancy Services went public and Tata Motors was listed on the New York Stock Exchange. In 1998, Tata Motors introduced his brainchild, the Tata Indica.

On January 31, 2007, under the chairmanship of Ratan Tata, Tata Sons successfully acquired Corus Group, an Anglo-Dutch steel and aluminium producer. With the acquisition, Ratan Tata became a celebrated personality in Indian corporate business culture. The merger created the fifth largest steel producing entity in the world.

On March 26, 2008, Tata Motors, under Ratan Tata, bought Jaguar & Land Rover from Ford Motor Company. The two iconic British brands, Jaguar and Land Rover, were acquired for £1.15 billion ($2.3 billion).

Ratan Tata's dream fulfilled, His Tata Nano Car 2008

Ratan Tata's dream was to manufacture a car costing Rs 100,000 (1998: approx. US$2,200; today US$2,000 US$2,528). He realized his dream by launching the car in New Delhi Auto Expo on January 10, 2008. Three models of the Tata Nano were announced, and Ratan Tata delivered on his commitment to developing a car costing only 1 lakh rupees, adding that "a promise is a promise," referring to his earlier promise to deliver this car at the said cost. Recently when his plant for Nano production was obstructed by Mamta Banerjee, his decision of going out of West Bengal was warmly welcomed.

On October 7, 2008, After a controversial stay in West Bengal, Ratan Tata and his men shifted their Rs 1-lakh car Nano project to Sanand near Ahmedabad at an investment of Rs 2,000 crore (Rs 20 billion), declaring that efforts will be made to roll out the world's cheapest car from a make-shift plant to meet the deadline. Praising Modi for speedy allocation of about 1,100 acres (4.5 km²) of centrally located land, Ratan Tata said that the company had a great deal of urgency in having a new location and was driven by the reputation of the state. He successfully made a secret deal with Narendra Modi who agreed to give him a soft loan to the tune of approximately $10 billion to make the car in Gujarat.

The car was launched on March 23, 2009 amid much fanfare with advance bookings that preceded its launch by months.

Personal life

Mr. Ratan Tata has a metalic blue Maserati.^[4] He sometimes likes to fly his private jet himself.^[5] He has a Falcon Jet. ^[6]He has never been married and is very shy about his personal life.

He is left handed. [12]

Quotes

"Question the unquestionable."^[7]

Social and environmental record

The TATA Group is widely believed to make the largest contribution to charity of any corporation in India. However, during his tenure as Chairman of the Tata Group, Ratan Tata has come in for criticism from human rights and environmental activists for the TATA Group’s record in this sector and the apparent reluctance to address these issues at the Group level.

Kalinganagar, Orissa: On January 2, 2006, policemen at Kalinganagar, Orissa, opened fire at a crowd of tribal villagers. The villagers were protesting the construction of a compound wall on land historically owned by them, for a Tata steel plant. Some of the corpses were returned to the families in a mutilated condition. When pushed for comment, TATA officials said the incident was unfortunate but that it would continue with its plans to set up the plant.^[8]

Dow Chemicals, Bhopal Gas Disaster: In November 2006, survivors of the Bhopal gas disaster were outraged by Ratan Tata’s offer to bail out Union Carbide and facilitate investments by Carbide’s new owner Dow Chemical. Tata had proposed leading a charitable effort to clean-up the toxic wastes abandoned by Carbide in Bhopal. At a time when the Government of India has held Dow Chemical liable for the clean-up and requested Rs. 100 crores from the American MNC, survivor’s groups felt that Tata’s offer was aimed at frustrating legal efforts to hold the company liable, and motivated by a desire to facilitate Dow’s investments in India.^[9]

TATA supplies to Burma’s military regime: TATA Motors reported deals to supply hardware and automobiles to Burma’s oppressive and anti-democratic military junta has come in for criticism from human rights and democracy activists. In December 2006, Gen. Thura Shwe Mann, Myanmar’s chief of general staff visited the Tata Motors plant in Pune. ["Myanmar Ties." December 8, 2006. The Telegraph, Calcutta, India]. In 2009, TATA Motors announced that it would press ahead with plans to manufacture trucks in Myanmar.^[10],^[11]

Singur displacement: The Singur controversy^[12] in West Bengal led to further questions over TATA’s social record, with protests by local villagers and some political parties over forcible eviction and inadequate compensation to those being displaced for the TATA Nano plant. As the protests gathered steam, and despite having the support of the ruling CPI(M) government, TATA eventually pulled the project out of the state of West Bengal, citing safety concerns. The Singur controversy was one of the few occasions when Ratan Tata was forced to publicly address criticisms and concerns on any environmental or social issue. Ratan Tata’s subsequent embrace of and praise for Narendra Modi, Chief Minister of Gujarat, also earned him brickbats on account of Modi’s openly communal stance and his performance as Chief Minister during the 2002 pogrom that saw hundreds of Muslims killed in riots within the state.^[13]

Dhamra Port: On the environmental front, the Dhamra port controversy has received significant coverage, both within India and in Tata’s emerging global markets. (‘India – Tata in troubled waters’, Ethical Corporation, November 2007, London, UK)^[14]

The Dhamra port, a venture between TATA Steel and Larsen & Toubro, has come in for criticism for its proximity to the Gahirmatha Sanctuary and Bitharkanika National Park, from Indian and international organizations, including Greenpeace. Gahirmatha is one of the world’s largest mass nesting sites for the olive ridley turtle and Bitharkanika is a designated Ramsar site and India’s second largest mangrove forest. TATA officials have denied that the port poses an ecological threat, and stated that mitigation measures are being employed with the advice of the IUCN.^[15] On the other hand, conservation organizations, including Greenpeace, have pointed out that no proper Environment Impact Analysis has been done for the project, which has undergone changes in size and specifications since it was first proposed and that the port could interfere with mass nesting at the Gahirmtha beaches and the ecology of the Bitharkanika mangrove forest.^[16],^[17]

Protests by Greenpeace to Dhamra Port construction is also alleged to be less on factual data and more on hype and DPCL's (Dhamra Port Company Limited) response to Greenpeace questions harbours on these facts ^[18],^[19]. Nevertheless, if good intentions prevail on both sides, we can have progress on sustainable development in one of the poorest parts of India, benefitting the society immensely.

Awards and Recognition

On the occasion of India's 58th Republic Day on 26 January 2000, Ratan Tata was honoured with the Padma Bhushan, the third highest decoration that may be awarded to a civilian. On 26 January 2008 he was awarded the Padma Vibhushan, the second highest civilian decoration. He was one of the recipients of the NASSCOM Global Leadership Awards-2008 given away at a ceremony on February 14 2008 in Mumbai. Ratan Tata accepted the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy in 2007 on behalf of the Tata family. ^[20][21]

Ratan Tata serves in senior capacities in various organisations in India and he is a member of the Prime Minister's Council on Trade and Industry. In March 2006 Tata was honoured by Cornell University as the 26th Robert S. Hatfield Fellow in Economic Education, considered the highest honor the university awards to distinguished individuals from the corporate sector.^[22]

Ratan Tata's foreign affiliations include membership of the international advisory boards of the Mitsubishi Corporation, the American International Group, JP Morgan Chase and Booz Allen Hamilton. He is also a member of the board of trustees of the RAND Corporation, University of Southern California and of his alma mater, Cornell University.^[23][24] He also serves as a board member on the Republic of South Africa's International Investment Council and is an Asia-Pacific advisory committee member for the New York Stock Exchange. Tata is on the board of governors of the East-West Center, the advisory board of RAND's Center for Asia Pacific Policy and serves on the programme board of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's India AIDS initiative. In February 2004, Ratan Tata was conferred the title of honorary economic advisor to Hangzhou city in the Zhejiang province of China.

He recently received an honorary doctorate from the London School of Economics and Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur.He was listed among the 25 most powerful people in business named by Fortune magazine in November 2007. In May 2008 Mr Tata made it to the Time magazine's 2008 list of the World's 100 most influential people. Tata was hailed for unveiling his tiny Rs. one lakh car 'Nano'.

On 29 August 2008, the Government of Singapore conferred honorary citizenship on Ratan Tata, in recognition of his abiding business relationship with the island nation and his contribution to the growth of high-tech sectors in Singapore. Ratan Tata is the first Indian to receive this honour.

After the 26 November 2008 Mumbai attacks, Forbes opined Ratan Tata be brought into politics, calling him India's most respected business leader.^[25]

In 2009 he was appointed an honorary Knight Commander of the British Empire^[26].

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DHIRU BHAI AMBANI

DHIRU BHAI AMBANI

Born: December 28, 1932
Died: July 6, 2002

Dhirajlal Hirachand Ambani, born on 28 December
1932. His home-town was Chorwad, literally meaning ‘Settlement of Thieves’

HE belonged to the caste 'Modh Bania', as the strict caste in the banias.the are strict vegitarians and marry in their own caste only.

His father, Hirachand Ambani, seems to have been a diffident trader when he tried his hand at petty conunerce, as a wholesaler in ghee (clarified butter, a cooking medium in India). He is recalled by many acquaintances as a ‘man of principle’-meaning perhaps that he was too good-willed to be good at making money

From 1934-36, Arnbani senior was headmaster of the Chorwad primary school
Ambani senior was married twice, having a son from his first marriage (named Samadasbhai) before being widowed. His second marriage gave him five more children, with Dhirajlal-or Dhirubha in the middle.

Dhirubhai had gone to Aden soon after finishing his studies in Junagadh at the age of 16, following the long tradition of boys from Bania families in Kathiawar heading for the Arabian trading ports or the market towns of East Africa to gain commercial experience and accumulate capital.

Early in the 1950s, officials in the treasury of the Arabian kingdom of Yemen noticed something funny happening to their country’s currency. The main unit of money, a solid silver coin called the Rial, was disappearing from circulation.
Inquiries found that an Indian clerk named Dhirubhai Ambani, then barely into his twenties, had an open order out in the souk (marketplace) of Aden for as many Rials as were available. Ambani had noted that the value of the Rial’s silver content was higher than its exchange value against the British pound and other foreign currencies. So he began buying Rials, melting them down, and selling the silver ingots to bullion dealers in London. ‘The margins were small, but it was money for jam,’ Dhirubhai later reminisced.
After three months it was stopped, but I made a few lakhs [one lakh = 100000 rupees] of rupees. I don’t believe in not taking opportunities.”

In March 1954, Dhirubhai married at the age of 22, in a match arranged by his mother (his father had died in 1951) but which Dhirubhai himself had supervised. His partner was Kokila Patel, the daughter of a postmaster in Jamnagar, the port on the western side of Kathlawar. Her family was not particularly wealthy, so it was not a financially advantageous
match for Dhirubhai.But Kokilaben’ was also a Modh Bania so,dirubhai followed the tradition by marrying in the same caste

After office hours, which finished at 4.30 in the afternoon, Dhirubhai would invariably head for the Aden souk. Initially he just watched the Arab, Indian and Jewish traders in action. Later he began taking positions in all kinds of commodities, particularly rice and sugar, in gambles against rises and falls in prices at time of delivery Doing business on one’s own account was strictly forbidden to Besse employees by the terms of their contract, and his older brother Ramnikbhai disapproved, so Dhirubhai would simply say he was ‘studying the market’.
Dhirubhai made some profits, and learned the fundamentals of business and money. But he also made some near disastrous mistakes, which almost wiped out his capital. On one occasion he suffered a tight financial squeeze when an incoming cargo of sugar was damaged by sea-water and his customer refused to accept delivery Pending settlement
of his insurance claim, Dhirubhai had to pass the hat among Besse colleagues for loans to bail himself out.
One particular ally was a Besse employee named jamnadas Sakerchand Depala, a relative
by marriage, who lent Dhirubhai 5000 shillings on this occasion. Depala was close to Dhirubhai and the two usually had lunch together, even after Dhirubhai had married. It was an odd relationship, another attraction of opposites. Depala was not a worldly man and lent money again to Dhirubhai for his ‘market studies’, but had a strong influence
nonetheless. ‘Jamnadas was morally in control of Dhirubhai,’ said Susheel Kothari, who had been in the same bachelors mess with Dhirubhai. ‘If Dhirubhai was drinking too much, no one else could stop him. He’d just swear at them. Kokilaben used to call Jamnadas and Dhirubhai would listen to him.’
According to one version of events, Jamnadas made considerable sacrifices for Dhirubhai.
One one occasion, so this story goes, Jamnadas and Dhirubhai were reported to Besse management for their private deals, and got suspended from service. Jamnadas took responsibility and resigned from service, allowing Dhirubhai to complete the seven year’s service that earned him the right of residence in Aden.

Some years later, Jamnadas came back to India and was given a shop selling textiles for Dhirubhai. After a while Jamnadas stopped coming to work, but Dhirubhai saw that his salary was paid until his death in 1987.

Dhirubhai left Aden in 1958, with his seven years service and right of residency as a failback, to try his hand in business back in India.


At the end of 1958, Dhirubbai returned to India with his wife Kokilaben and first child, a son named Mukesh. They were expecting their second child (another son, Anil, born in June 1959, to be followed by daughters Dipti, born in January 1961, and Nina, born in July 1962)


In Choward ,he found support in the family of Chambakial Damani, a second cousin (Dhirubhai’s grandfather and Damani’s grandmother were brother and sister) who had been working in Aden for family companies at about the same time that Dhirubhai was there. One business, Madhavas Manikchand, had imported textiles and yarns from India, ran a transit business into Ethiopia, and held the agency for Bridgestone Tyres.
When necessary, Dhirubhai had used the names of these firms during his own after-hours trading.
Damani’s father, Madhaylal Manikehand, had closed his busi- nesses in Aden and Ethiopia
on retiring in 1957, and decided to put Rupees (Rs) 100 000 into a trading business for his son and Dhirubhai in Bombay.

Dhirubhai and Chambaklal called their new business Reliance Commercial Corp. The first office was a room of about 350 square feet in Narsinathan Street, in the crowded
Masjid Bandar district of Bombay. It had a telephone, one table and three chairs. If the two partners and their initial two employees were all present, someone had to stand.

Dhirubhai’s fast pace caused a rift with his partner Chambaklal Damani in 1965.
Damani preferred to trade with great caution, leading to constant tension with Dhirubhai who was a risk-taker.

The final rupture came after one clash when, at Dhirubbai’s urging, Reliance built up a large holding of yarn in the expectation of a price rise. Damani pressured Dhirubhai to cut back their exposure. So Dhirubhai sold the yarn stockpile-to himself, in secret. Two or three weeks later the price of yarn shot up and Dhirubhai made a killing profit .
‘Later Dhirubhai told Chambaklal: “I am prepared to share profit with you.But in future if you do not know the business do not intervene.”’


After ten years at Bhuleshwar, in 1968, Dhirubhai moved his home out of the chawl to a more comfortable flat in Altamount Road, one of the city’s elite areas on a hill overlooking
the Arabian Sea. Fond of driving fast, Dhirubhai had first bought a Fiat car, and then moved on to a Mercedes-Benz. Later, in the 1970s, he indulged a taste for flashy automobiles by acquiring a Cadillac, one of the very few in the country then or since.
Friends remember him as a dashing figure, the slightly dark skin inherited from his father (the only such characteristic, some say) offset by a white safari suit, the hair slicked back into a duck’s tail.

They broke up.Damani went into trading in a new company, while Dhirubhai and his brothers paid some Rs 600 000 to buy him out of Reliance. Soon after, Dhirubhai moved the office to bigger premises

Within a year of splitting with Damani, Dhirubhai took Reliance into textile manufacturing
for the first time. He decided to locate it in Gujarat rather than Bombay, because of the cheaper land prices, and sent his older brother Ramnikbhal to select a site.

They settled on a 10000 square metre plot, the last going in a new industrial estate developed by the Gujarat state govern- ment at Naroda
sell. Dhirubhai had a simple factory built, installed four knitting machines, and appointed his brother as plant manager.
So Dhirubhai had a ready-made source of educated managers, accountants and salesmen, drilled to European standards.


Soon after, Ramnikbhai Ambani, with whom he had worked in the Besse automotive division, hired him for Naroda and put him in charge of the knitting machines. Patel knew nothing about them, but was sent to West Germany and japan later for formal training. He stayed with Reliance until retirement in 1993.

The result was steady growth in sales and profits for Reliance. In 1967, the first full year of production at Naroda, the company recorded sales of Rs 9 million in 1967, yielding a net profit of Rs 1.3 million. Dhirubhai and his family shareholders refused to take dividends and kept ploughing earnings back into more machines. After a decade of manufacturing, in 1977 Reliance had a turnover of Rs 680 million, and profits of Rs 105 million.

In an extensive write-up on the company in August 1979, the Indian Textile Journal reported on a massive factory at Naroda occupying 230 000 square metres and employing 5000 staff. It had banks of machines for texturising or ‘crimping’ artificial fibres to give particular sheens, machines for twisting the polyester and nylon fibres into yarns, and machines for weaving the yarns into textiles. The yarns were sold to other Indian textile manufacturers, or used in-house.

Most significantly perhaps, Dhirubhai established his own brand name, Vimal (named after a son of his brother Ramnik), by dint of lavish advertising under the slogan ‘Only Vimal’. This somewhat snobbish slogan, and some well-publicised fashion shows in top-class hotels, added a touch of class to a product that basically appealed to the less wealthy market sectors. In addition, Dhirubhai had got around the reluctance of established
wholesalers and shopkeepers to accept a new brand by creating his own network of shops. Across India, some 400 shops were franchised to sell the Vimal brand of polyester

Over the years, Dhirubhai developed close ties with politicians in many parties. These included figures such as Atal Bihari Vajpayee, senior leader of the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party who became prime minister of a brief minority government in 1996, and several on the left such as Chandrashekhar, another short-term prime minister in 1990-91.

The Syndicate Bank became the main financier for Reliance Textile Industries when it started manufacturing soon after, in 1966, providing much of the Rs 1,5 million needed to buy the first four knitting machines. Another early backer was the Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India (ICICI), whose chairman Harkisan Das Parekh, another Gujarati, also took a shine to Dhirubhai’s big schemes.

Though Reliance was a profitable enough concern, Ambani quickly calculated that further
expansion — especially into related sectors — would depend on access to a cheap source of
capital. Rather than turning to the banking system, he decided to tap Bombay’s fledgeling stock
exchange, pioneering an equity cult that was to transform the corporate financing system in India.
Reliance’s initial public offering in 1977 saw 58,000 investors buying shares; eventually, the
number of Reliance shareholders was to climb to some three million .



In 1982 Ambani began the process of backward integration, setting up a plant to manufacture
polyester filament yarn. He subsequently diversified into chemicals, gas, petrochemicals, plastics,
power and telecom services.

Over time, Dhirubhai diversified his business with the core specialisation being in petrochemicals
and additional interests in telecommunications, information technology, energy, power, retail,
textiles, infrastructure services, capital markets, and logistics

By the late 1980s the Reliance group was one of India’s most influential and profitable concerns.
However, the phenomenal growth of Reliance owed as much to Ambani’s acumen as to the ease
with which he was able to get official rules and regulations — including import tariffs —
introduced, amended or scrapped in order to undercut his rivals and push his own business
interests. His methods earned him many bitter enemies in India’s corporate world. Ambani
nevertheless forged ahead, cultivating friends in virtually every Indian political party and
managing the media in such a way that critical stories about Reliance’s unconventional business
methods seldom made it into the newspapers.
The final phase of Reliance’s diversification occurred in the 1990s when the company turned
aggressively towards petrochemicals and telecommunications. But, like most business people,
Ambani had rivals, the most bitter of whom was Nusli Wadia, of Bombay Dyeing, a patrician
entrepreneur whose company was well established in the textile industry.
Ambani was also anxious to encourage the spread of information technology among India’s poor.
Through Reliance Industries he arranged computer education and training for thousands of
students in schools in Bombay. “You are getting an opportunity. Make the best use of it,” he told
children in December during one of his last public speeches. “Be daring. Think big. You can be
the best. If you believe in this, you will be the best.”


Dhirubhai's Control Over Stock Exchanges

In 1982, Reliance Industries came up against a rights issue regarding partly convertible
debentures. It was rumored that company was making all efforts to ensure that their stock prices
did not slide an inch. Sensing an opportunity, a bear cartel which was a group of stock brokers
from Calcutta started to short sell the shares of Reliance. To counter this, a group of stock
brokers till recently referred to as "Friends of Reliance" started to buy the short sold shares of
Reliance Industries on the Bombay Stock Exchange.
On Dhirubhai Ambani's first birthday after his death, The Government of India released a
postage stamp in his memory. Denomination Rs 5. The fuction was presided over by the
then Minister for Communications and Information Technology, Pramod Mahajan and
members of Ambani's Family including Kokilaben Ambani (Dhirubhai's Wife), Mukesh
Ambani and Anil Ambani (Dhirubhai's sons)
The Bear Cartel was acting on the belief that the Bulls would be short of cash to complete the
transactions and would be ready for settlement under the "Badla" trading system prevalent in
Bombay Stock Exchange during those days. The bulls kept on buying and a price of Rs. 152 per
share was maintained till the day of settlement. On the day of settlement, the Bear Cartel was
taken aback when the Bulls demanded a physical delivery of shares. To complete the transaction,
the much needed cash was provided to the stock brokers who had brought shares of Reliance, by
none other than Dhirubhai Ambani. In the case of non-settlement, the Bulls demanded an
"Unbadla" (a penalty sum) of Rs. 35 per share. With this, the demand increased and the shares
of Reliance shot above 180 rupees in minutes. The settlement caused an enormous uproar in the
market and Dhirubhai Ambani was the unquestioned king of the stock markets. He proved to his
detractors just how dangerous it was to play with Reliance.

The Bear Cartel was acting on the belief that the Bulls would be short of cash to complete the
transactions and would be ready for settlement under the "Badla" trading system prevalent in
Bombay Stock Exchange during those days. The bulls kept on buying and a price of Rs. 152 per
share was maintained till the day of settlement. On the day of settlement, the Bear Cartel was
taken aback when the Bulls demanded a physical delivery of shares. To complete the transaction, the much needed cash was provided to the stock brokers who had brought shares of Reliance, by none other than Dhirubhai Ambani. In the case of non-settlement, the Bulls demanded an "Unbadla" (a penalty sum) of Rs. 35 per share. With this, the demand increased and the shares of Reliance shot above 180 rupees in minutes. The settlement caused an enormous uproar in the
market and Dhirubhai Ambani was the unquestioned king of the stock markets. He proved to his
detractors just how dangerous it was to play with Reliance.
The situation was getting completely out of control. To find a solution to this situation, the Bombay Stock Exchange was closed for three business days. Authorities from the Bombay Stock
Exchange intervened in the matter and brought down the "Unbadla" rate to Rs. 2 with a
stipulation that the Bear Cartel had to deliver the shares within the next few days. The Bear Cartel
bought shares of Reliance from the market at higher price levels and it was also learnt that
Dhirubhai Ambani himself supplied those shares to the Bear Cartel and earned a healthy profit
out of The Bear Cartel's adventure.

After this incident, many questions were raised by his detractors and the press. Not many people
were able to understand as to how a yarn trader till a few years ago was able to get in such a
huge amount of cash flow during a crisis period. The answer to this was provided by the then
finance minister, Pranab Mukherjee in the parliament. He informed the house that a Non-
Resident Indian had invested up to Rs. 220 Million in Reliance during 1982-83. These
investments were routed through many companies like Crocodile, Lota and Fiasco. These
companies were primarily registered in Isle of Man. The interesting factor was that all the
promoters or owners of these companies had a common surname Shah. An investigation by the
Reserve Bank of India in the incident did not find any unethical or illegal acts or transactions
committed by Reliance or its promoters.



Criticism

Despite his almost Midas Touch, Ambani has been known to have flexible values and an
unethical streak running through him. His biographer himself has cited some instances of his
unethical behavior when he was just an ordinary employee at a petrol pump in Dubai. He has
been accused of having manipulated government policies to suit his own needs, and has been
known to be a king-maker in government elections. Although most media sources tend to speak
out about business-politics nexus, the Ambani house has always enjoyed more protection and
shelter from the media storms that sweep across the country.


Tussle with Nusli Wadia

Nusli Wadia of Bombay Dyeing was, at one point in time, the biggest competitor of Dhirubhai and
Reliance Industries. Both Nusli Wadia and Dhirubhai were known for their influence in the political circles and their ability to get the most difficult licenses approved during the times of preliberalized economy.
During the Janata Party rule between 1977 - 1979, Nusli Wadia obtained the permission to build
a 60,000 tonnes per annum Dimethyl terephthalate (DMT) plant. Before the letter of intent was
converted into a licence, many hurdles came in the way. Finally, in 1981, Nusli Wadia was
granted the license for the plant. This incident acted as a catalyst between the two parties and the competition took an ugly turn.

The Indian Express Articles

At one point in time, Ramnath Goenka was a friend of Dhirubhai Ambani. Ramnath Goenka was
also considered to be close to Nusli Wadia. On many occasions, Ramnath Goenka tried to
intervene between the two warring factions and bring an end to the enmity. To this day, there is
no satisfactory explanation as to why Goenka and Ambani became rivals. Later on, Ramnath
Goenka chose to support Nusli Wadia. At one point of time, Ramnath Goenka is believed to have
said "Nusli is an Englishman. He cannot handle Ambani. I am a bania. I know how to finish him".





As days passed by, The Indian Express, a broadsheet daily published by him, carried a series of
articles against Reliance Industries and Dhirubhai in which they claimed that Dhirubhai was using
unfair trade practices to maximise the profits. Ramnath Goenka did not use his staff at the Indian
Express to investigate the case but assigned his close confident, advisor and chartered
accountant S. Gurumurthy for this task. Apart from S. Gurumurthy, another journalist Maneck
Davar who was not on the rolls of Indian Express started contributing stories. Jamnadas
Moorjani, a businessman opposed to the Ambanis was also a part of this campaign.
Both Ambani and Goenka were equally criticized and admired by sections of the society. People
criticized Goenka that he was using a national newspaper for the cause of a personal enmity.
Critics believed that there were many other businessman in the country who were using more
unfair and unethical practices but Goenka chose to target only Ambani and not the others. When


Ramnath Goenka was asked as to why he chose to fight against Dhirubhai only, he is believed to have said "Everybody rapes the system but this man wants to make it his mistress". Critics also
admired Goenka for his ability to run these articles without any help from his regular staff.
Dhirubhai Ambani was also getting more recognition and admiration, in the meantime. A section
of the public started to appreciate Dhirubhai's business sense and his ability to tame the system
according to his wishes.
The end to this tussle came only after Dhirubhai Ambani suffered a stroke. While Dhirubhai
Ambani was recovering in San Diego, his sons Mukesh Ambani and Anil Ambani managed the
affairs. The Indian Express had turned the guns against Reliance and was directly blaming the
government for not doing enough to penalize Reliance Industries.


The battle between Wadia - Goenka and the Ambanis took a new direction and became a national crisis. Gurumurthy and another journalist, Mulgaokar consorted with President Giani Zail Singh and ghost-wrote a hostile
letter to the Prime Minister on his behalf. The Indian Express published a draft of the President’s letter as a scoop, not realizing that Zail Singh had made changes to the letter before sending it to Rajiv Gandhi. Ambani had won the battle at this point. Now, while the tussle was directly between
the Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and Ramnath Goenka, Ambani made a quiet exit. The government then raided the Express guest house in Delhi’s Sunder Nagar and found the original draft with corrections in Mulgaokar’s handwriting. By 1988-89, Rajiv’s government retaliated with
a series of prosecutions against the Indian Express.
Even then, Goenka retained his iconic stature because, to many people, he seemed to be replaying his heroic defiance during the
Emergency regime.


Dhirubhai & V.P.Singh


It was widely known that Dhirubhai didn't enjoy a cordial relation with Vishwanath Pratap Singh,
who succeeded Rajiv Gandhi as the Prime Minister of India. In May 1985, he suddenly removed
the import of Purified Terephthalic Acid from the Open General License category. As a raw
material this was very important to manufacture polyester filament yarn. This made it very difficult
for Reliance to carry on operations. Reliance was able to secure, from various financial
institutions, letters of credit that would allow it to import almost one full year’s requirement of PTA on the eve of the issuance of the government notification, changing the category under which PTA could be imported.
In 1990, the government-owned financial institutions like the Life Insurance Corporation of India and the General Insurance Corporation stonewalled attempts by the Reliance group to acquire managerial control over Larsen & Toubro. Sensing defeat, the Ambanis resigned from the board of the company. Dhirubhai, who had become L&T's chairman in April 1989, had to quit his post to make way for D. N. Ghosh, former chairman of the State Bank of india.



Death

Final Journey: Dhirubhai Ambani's funeral saw thousands of people attending.

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.
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


The country has lost iconic proof of what an ordinary Indian fired by the spirit of nterprise and driven by determination can achieve in his own lifetime.
– Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Former Prime Minister of India



The nation had lost one of the doyens of the modern Indian corporate community, a
philanthropist and above all a great human being endowed with great compassion and
concern for the underprivileged sections of the society.
This new star, which rose on the horizon of the Indian industry three decades ago,
remained on the top till the end by virtue of his ability to dream big and translate it into
reality through the strength of his tenacity and perseverance
I join the people of Maharashtra in paying my tribute to the memory of Ambani and convey
my heartfelt condolences to the bereaved family.
– P C Alexander, Governer of Maharastra


Reliance After Dhirubhai
In November 2004, Mukesh Ambani in an interview, admitted to having differences with his
brother Anil over 'ownership issues.' He also said that the differences "are in the private domain."
He was of the opinion that this will not have any bearing on the functioning of the company saying
Reliance is one of the strongest professionally-managed companies. Considering the importance
of Reliance Industries to the Indian Economy, this issue got an extensive coverage in the media.
Kundapur Vaman Kamath, the Managing Director of ICICI Bank was seen in media, a close friend
of the Ambani family who helped to settle the issue. The brothers had entrusted their mother,
Kokilaben Ambani, to resolve the issue. On June 18, 2005, Kokilaben Ambani announced the
settlement through a press release.
With the blessings of Srinathji, I have today amicably resolved the issues between my two sons,
Mukesh and Anil, keeping in mind the proud legacy of my husband, Dhirubhai Ambani.
I am confident that both Mukesh and Anil, will resolutely uphold the values of their father and
work towards protecting and enhancing value for over three million shareholders of the Reliance
Group, which has been the foundational principle on which my husband built India's largest
private sector enterprise.
Mukesh will have the responsibility for Reliance Industries and IPCL while Anil will have
responsibility for Reliance Infocomm, Reliance Energy and Reliance Capital.
My husband's foresight and vision and the values he stood for combined with my
blessings will guide them to scale new heights.
– Kokilaben Ambani
The Reliance empire was split between the Ambani brothers, Mukesh Ambani getting RIL and
IPCL & his younger sibling Anil Ambani heading Reliance Capital, Reliance Energy and Reliance
Infocomm. The entity headed by Mukesh Ambani is referred to as the Reliance Industries Limited
whereas Anil's Group has been renamed Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG)



Film
A film alleged to be inspired by the life of Dhirubhai Ambani was released on 12th January 2007.
The Hindi Film Guru, directed by Mani Ratnam, cinematography by Rajiv Menon, music by
A.R.Rahman shows the struggle of a man striving to make his mark in the Indian business world
with a fictional Shakti Group of Industries. The film stars Abhishek Bachchan, Mithun
Chakraborty, Aishwarya Rai, Madhavan and Vidya Balan. In the film, Abhishek Bachchan
portrays Dhirubhai Ambani, Mithun Chakraborty portrays Rambabu who bears an uncanny
resemblance to the real life Ramanath Goenka and Madhvan portays S. Gurumurthy, who twenty
years ago, gained national fame, spearheading virulent attacks against the Reliance group in one
of India's bloodiest corporate wars ever.



Awards and Recognitions
• November 2000 – Conferred 'Man of the Century' award by Chemtech Foundation and
Chemical Engineering World in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the growth
and development of the chemical industry in India
• 2000, 1998 and 1996 – Featured among 'Power 50 - the most powerful people in Asia
by Asiaweek magazine.
• June 1998 - Dean's Medal by The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, for
setting an outstanding example of leadership. Dhirubhai Ambani has the rare distinction
of being the first Indian to get Wharton School Dean's Medal [17]
• August 2001 – The Economic Times Award for Corporate Excellence for Lifetime
Achievement
• Dhirubhai Ambani was named the Man of 20th Century by the Federation of Indian
Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).
• A poll conducted by The Times of India in 2000 voted Him "Greatest Creator of Wealth
In The Centuries".'



Famous Quotes
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 deliver."

"Between my past, the present and the future, there is one common factor: Relationship
and Trust. This is the foundation of our growth"
• "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."

Other quotes

Kothari a fellow employee in Aden said. ‘He was never comfortable in service. He was a born businessman.’.

Dhirubhai was never simply an industrialist, a trader, a financial juggler or a political rnanipulator, but all four in one.

Dhirubhai’s philosophy was to cultivate everybody from the doorkeeper up. ‘I am willing to salaam [bow down to] anyone,’ he told a magazine interviewer in 1985

Think big, think fast and think ahead.

‘I have one gold chappal [slipper], and one silver chappal,’ he said, breezily. ‘Depending who it is, I strike him with the gold chappal, or with the silver chappal.’

‘Everyone has his price.’