At first, he sold the imported polyester yarn in Bombay markets at premiums ranging up to 300 per cent. While Ambani was exporting spices to Yemen, he gained an export replenishment licence, which he then used to import polyester yarn into India due to the dearth of fabric in India. “We made big money from that order, real big money,” Ámbani was quoted as saying.Īlso read: Raj Kapoor, the ‘greatest showman’ of Indian cinemaĪfter Partition, the textile industry in India had come to a standstill, as the major cotton producing regions were in Pakistan while the cotton mills were in Bombay. He then expanded the trade to include other commodities, including manure-mixed topsoil for a sheikh’s lawn. With the little money he had, Ambani decided to venture into spice trading, and soon, the orders began flowing in from Yemen. Although Ambani was tempted to set up shop in London, he finally decided to establish a business in what was then Bombay.

Besse & Co.’s shell refinery. Having married Kokilaben, he then decided to try his hand at trading. He came back to India in 1954 after five years in Aden, as a promoter for A. Besse & Co, and learnt the ropes of business.

A fierce independence activist in school, he was inspired by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.Īmbani wanted to go to college, but owing to his father’s ill-health, he was compelled to get a job in Aden, a former British colony on the Arabian peninsula, now the temporary capital of Yemen. Learning the ropesĭhirajlal Hirachand Ambani was born on 28 December 1932 in Junagarh, modern-day Gujarat, to school teachers Jamnaben (known to be a thrifty homemaker) and Hirachand Govardhandas Ambani. On his 86 th birth anniversary, ThePrint looks back at the story of how Ambani surpassed every established name in the business community in a matter of three decades.

The Polyester Prince by Hamish McDonald