Mukesh Ambani, the chairman and managing director of India's largest private sector enterprise -- Reliance Industries Limited -- was born on April 19, 1957.
His father, the legendary Dhirubhai Ambani, was then a small businessman who later on rose to become one of the legends of Indian industry.
Mukesh joined Reliance Industries in 1981 and was the brain behind Reliance's backward integration from textiles into polyester fibres and into petrochemicals. During the process of backward integration, Mukesh Ambani led the creation of 51 new, world-class manufacturing facilities involving diverse technologies that raised Reliance's manufacturing capacities manifold.
The world's largest grassroots petroleum refinery at Jamnagar is his brainchild. He was also the in-charge of Dhirubhai's dream project Reliance Infocomm. But after the split in the Reliance Empire, Reliance Infocomm went to his brother Anil.
Mukesh Ambani is now planning to enter retail sector in a big way and will launch a chain of 'Reliance Fresh' retail stores. He also entered into an agreement with the Haryana government to establish a Special Economic Zone with an investment running into billions of rupees.
He has a bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering from University of Bombay and a master's in Business Administration from Stanford University, USA.
Photograph: Jewella C. Miranda
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