Dhirajlal Hirachand “Dhirubhai” Ambani was born on 28 December 1932 , he was 3rd of 5 siblings, three brothers and two sisters. Dhirubhai’s father Hirachandbhai was an ordinary middle class teacher with low income which was just enough for the food. Even since young, Dhirubhai had the zeal of becoming an entrepreneur, Once during his childhood he bought tin of groundnut oil on credit from a local wholesaler and sold oil in retail on the roadside and made little profit. During weekends and vacation at the school young Dhirubhai used to sell hot hot bhajias infront of Dattatreya temple on Girnar Mountains and village fairs to make ends meet at home. It was at his 17th age he moved to Aden, Yemen. Dhirubhai started his career as a dispatch clerk with A.Besse & Co. Two years later A. Besse & Co. became the distributors for Shell products and Dhirubhai ji was promoted to manage the company’s oil-filling station at the port of Aden.
In the 1950s, the Yemini administration realized that their main unit of currency, the Rial, was disappearing fast. Upon launching an investigation, they realized that a lot of Rials were being routed to the Port City of Aden. It was found that a young man in his twenties was placing unlimited buy orders for Yemini Rials. During those days, the Yemini Rial was made of pure silver coins and was in much demand at the London Bullion Exchange. Young Dhirubhai bought the Rials, melted them into pure silver and sold it to the bullion traders in London. Ten years later, Dhirubai i returned to India with Rs.50000 in hand and his zeal of entrepreneurship made him to start the Reliance Commercial Corporation with a capital of Rs. 15,000. The primary business of Reliance Commercial Corporation was to import polyester yarn and export spices, The first office was just 350 Sq. Ft. room with a telephone, one table and three chairs .
Sensing an opportunity in the textile business, Dhirubhai ji started his first textile mill near Ahmedabad in 1966. Dhirubhai ji started the brand “Vimal“, which was named after his elder brother Ramaniklal Ambani’s son, Vimal Ambani. Just in few years of the brand “Vimal” ruled the interiors of India. In the year 1975, a Technical team from the World Bank visited the Reliance Textiles’ Manufacturing unit shocked to see the quality matching developed countries’ standard those days. In the year 1977 the Reliance Commercial corporation attracted 58000 investors in the very first IPO, the rest is history.
On June 24, 2002 Dhirubhai ji suffered major brain stroke and left the physical world. As Dhirubhai ji started his long journey in Bombay from the Mulji-Jetha Textile Market, As a mark of respect to this great businessman, The Mumbai Textile Merchants’ decided to keep the market closed on July 8, 2002 shows the respect people had on him,At the time of Dhirubhai’s death, Reliance Group had a gross turnover of Rs. 75,000 Crore.
Wow Rs. 15,000 to Rs.75000 crores seems too good but the dedication and effort of Dhirubhai ji was, is and will be an inspiration for billions of Indians forever. Dhirubhai ji shown to world that one does not need a silver spoon in mouth to become an entrepreneur. Yesterday Govt of India announced Prestigious Padma awards which will be conferred on the eve of Republic day on Jan 26th, The Govt also announced Padma vibhushan (the second-highest civilian award) to late Dhirubhai Ambani. Even though it was too late for the legendary businessman but it will inspire millions of Indians to become an entrepreneur and become job creators. Finally it’s our duty to say Padma vibhushan Dhirubhai Ambani,
JAI HO….
- Cost of a Glass of Milk - May 3, 2016
- Padma vibhushan Dhirubhai Ambani. - January 26, 2016
- ABDUL KALAM, BILLION SALAAM… - July 28, 2015
