INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Mukesh Ambani was estimated to be worth $44.3 billion on Friday.Mukesh Ambani overtook Alibaba Group founder Jack Ma to become Asia's
richest person as he positions Reliance Industries Ltd
to disrupt the e-commerce space in India.The chairman of India's refining-to-telecoms conglomerate, Ambani was estimated to be worth $44.3
billion on Friday with Reliance Industries Ltd
rising 1.6 percent to a record 1,099.8 rupees, according to Bloomberg Billionaires Index
Ma's wealth stood at $44 billion at close of trade on Thursday in the U.S., where the company is listed.Ambani has added $4 billion to his
fortune this year as Reliance doubled its petrochemicals capacity and investors cheered the success of his disruptive telecom upstart
Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd
Then earlier this month, the tycoon unveiled plans to leverage his 215 million telecom subscribers to expand his e-commerce offerings,
taking on the likes of Amazon.com Inc
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.'s Ma has lost $1.4 billion in 2018."We need to broaden our horizon of expectation with Reliance," said Nitin
Tiwari, a Mumbai-based analyst at Antique Stock Broking
"They are in for something really transformational."Ambani, best known for executing large-scale projects, spearheaded construction of the
world's largest refining complex in Jamnagar, owns the most-widespread mobile data network globally and claims to have India's biggest as
well as most-profitable retail firm.At this month's annual shareholders' meeting, Ambani said Reliance saw its "biggest growth opportunity
in creating a hybrid, online-to-offline new commerce platform," involving the group's Reliance Retail Ltd
and Reliance Jio businesses
The "size of Reliance will more than double" by 2025, Ambani said at the meeting.Jio will introduce a fiber-based broadband service across
1,100 Indian cities in August in what Ambani said would be the biggest greenfield fixed-line rollout anywhere in the world."Jio is the
driver behind the surge in Reliance," said Deven Choksey, managing director at Mumbai-based KR Choksey Shares and Securities Pvt
"If the company is going to double profit a few years down the line, the stock price will also double, if not more."A spokesman for Reliance
didn't immediately reply to an email seeking comment.Equity CultureWithin a week of the announcements, Reliance re-entered the $100 billion
club after more than a decade
He used the same venue two years ago to announce his disruptive telecom venture with free offers that eventually forced smaller rivals to
quit and the biggest ones to merge.The billionaire inherited Reliance from his much-storied father Dhirubhai Ambani, who is credited with
sparking an equity culture among middle-class Indians and using their savings to build the group's textile and petrochemical manufacturing
units.Dhirubhai's death in 2002 left the group in the hands of Mukesh and his younger brother Anil Ambani
The brothers eventually split the company in 2005, as per a family pact brokered by their mother, after years of acrimony.
