Dhirubhai Ambani Death Anniversary: ​​Came to Mumbai with Rs 500 in his pocket, this is how Reliance became the country’s largest company

Dhirubhai Ambani Death Anniversary Special: Today Dhirubhai Ambani, the founder of the country’s largest and most valuable company Reliance Industries, is being remembered. He was born on 28 December 1932 in the small village of Chorwad in Gujarat in the family of an ordinary school teacher. Since the financial condition of the house was not good, he started helping the family financially since childhood. On the basis of his ability and hard work, he achieved the position whose example is given all over the world today.

Due to financial constraints, Dhirubhai could complete his studies only till high school and after that he had to work. In his childhood, he used to sell pakodas near the hills of Girnar to help his family. When this work did not yield much benefit, he decided to go to Yemen for a job at the age of just 17. He did not have any ancestral property but he had a deep understanding of business which made him a billionaire one day.

Job and struggle abroad

With the help of his elder brother Ramaniklal, Dhirubhai reached Aden city of Gulf country Yemen in 1948 for a job. There he A. Started working as a clerk in Base & Company at a salary of only Rs 300 per month. Seeing his excellent work and dedication, the company soon appointed him to the post of manager in the filling station. It was in Yemen that he learned many tricks of the trade and understood how to earn money even from soil.

Soil sold to Arab sheikh

According to a unique story, an Arab Sheikh needed fertile soil to grow roses in his garden. Dhirubhai, with his wisdom, procured fertile soil from India and delivered it to that Arab Sheikh very easily. In return, that Arab Sheikh had given a huge price to Dhirubhai Ambani for his work. After this incident, he gained confidence in his business abilities and returned to India in 1954.

Chawl and first office of Mumbai

In the year 1955, Dhirubhai Ambani reached the city of dreams Mumbai to try his luck with only Rs 500 in his pocket. After coming to India, Dhirubhai and his entire family lived in a small apartment in a chawl in Bhuleshwar area of ​​Mumbai. In the year 1958, he opened his first small office on Narsinath Street, Masjid Bunder with a capital of Rs 15,000. There was no phone in his office, so he used to pay money to a nearby doctor and use his phone.

Spices Export and Vimal Brand

Initially, they started exporting large quantities of various items like ginger, turmeric, cardamom and clothes to western countries. After some time, he realized that if he traded yarn instead of spices, he would get much more profit in the market. After this he started his own textile mill in Naroda, Gujarat and named it ‘Vimal’ after his elder brother’s son. Created a brand. The brand soon became popular across the country and took their business to new historic heights.

Beat the brokers in the stock market

In the year 1977, Dhirubhai Ambani brought the first IPO of Reliance in which more than 58,000 common investors participated with great enthusiasm. At that time, some stock market brokers tried to harass him a lot, but Dhirubhai made an amazing move. Because of them the stock market remained closed for three days and the prices of Reliance shares reached the highest level. The brokers who had played the trick had to bow before Dhirubhai Ambani and the investors made huge profits.

Surprised Dupont engineers

Once due to a heavy flood, his petrochemical project located on the banks of Patalganga river in Gujarat was completely destroyed. Then the engineers of Dupont, the American company supporting the plant, said that it would take a month to restart it. On the strict instructions of Dhirubhai, both the plants were started one day earlier than planned i.e. in just 14 days. DuPont’s chairman was also surprised because it would have taken 26 months to build such a plant in America, which was started here in 18 months.

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Support of family and wife Kokilaben

Dhirubhai Ambani’s wife Kokilaben has always had a huge and important contribution in his brilliant success. She strongly supported Dhirubhai in every small and big ups and downs of life and never backed down at any point. Four children, Mukesh, Anil, Deepti and Neena were born to him, who later managed his huge business empire well. Dhirubhai always started every new work and big business only after consulting his wife Kokilaben.

Dhirubhai Ambani family

Demise and future of Reliance

For his significant contribution to business, he was posthumously awarded the Padma Vibhushan, India’s second highest civilian honour, in 2016. He suffered a major stroke on 24 June 2002 and died on 6 July 2002 at the age of 69. Shortly after his death, Kokilaben, with the help of VK Kamat, made a peaceful division of the business between Mukesh and Anil Ambani. Today, under the leadership of Mukesh Ambani, Reliance has become the largest company in the country.

Kokilaben receiving Dhirubhai Ambani’s Padma Vibhushan