| Ambani set to join world’s richest - The Financial Times |
| 09-10-2007 |
India’s stock market boom has catapulted the country’s biggest industrialist Mukesh Ambani within reach of becoming the richest Indian and one of the world’s 10 wealthiest people. In a vivid illustration of India’s economic rise, Mr Ambani’s personal wealth has doubled to about $44bn (€31bn, £26bn) in the past year thanks to a more than 100 per cent increase in the share price of Reliance Industries, his flagship oil and retailing group. The only businessman of Indian origin richer than Mr Ambani is Lakshmi N. Mittal, the London-based Indian whose 44.8 per cent stake in his steel company, Arcelor Mittal, is worth about $48bn alone. The 50-year-old Mr Ambani took over the petroleum refining and textile arms of the family business empire after a high-profile feud with his brother, Anil, over control of the conglomerate built from scratch by his late father Dhirubhai. He drew headlines earlier this year because of a controversial plan to build an extravagant family home due to rise as high as a 60-storey office building over the site of a former Mumbai orphanage. |