THE AMBANI MAGIC: Reliance Industries was listed in 1977 in one of the largest public stock offerings of its time and its annual shareholders' meetings were so well attended they had to be held in a football stadium.
And Dhirubhai held his shareholders spellbound, paying high dividends and bonuses at a time when equities were seen as a low-return, risky investment.
This made Dhirubhai Ambani a hero to shareholders. Original investors in the 1977 initial public offering have earned a compounded annual rate of return of 43 per cent.
