The Ambanis have topped the list of the most valuable family businesses with a valuation that is equivalent to 10 per cent of India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), according to a Barclays-Hurun India report.
Reliance Industries, which is part of the Ambani family’s Rs25.75 trillion (£239.47bn) empire, runs India’s leading conglomerates in petroleum refining and marketing, oil and gas, organised retail, telecommunication, and other digital streaming services.
The Ambanis and their wealth have been a source of both fascination and outrage over this year.
Mukesh Ambani’s 29-year-old son Anant’s over-the-top wedding festivities started in March and finally culminated in a three-day extravagant celebration in July that saw the likes of Rihanna, Katy Perry, Andrea Bocelli, and Justin Bieber flown in as performers and global celebrities from Kim and Khloé Kardashian to former world leaders Tony Blair and Boris Johnson attending.
According to reports, Bieber charged $10m (£7.84m) to perform at one of the wedding functions, Rihanna was paid anywhere between $8-$9m (£6-7m) for a pre-wedding celebration, while Katy Perry charged between $4-$5m (£3.1-3.9m) to perform during a second pre-wedding celebration.
The exact cost of the Ambanis’ wedding festivities continues to be undisclosed, but Indian media and wedding planners estimated that the wedding celebrations alone would easily exceed $300m (£235m). If taken into account both pre-wedding events, The Guardian estimated that the total could reach up to $600m (£470m).
The Ambanis are followed by the Bajaj family in second position with a valuation of Rs 7.13 trillion (£66.31bn), and the Birla family in third place, with a Rs5.39 trillion (£50.31bn) valuation. Together, these top three families are valued at $460bn (£361bn) – equal to the GDP of Singapore – according to the report.
These rankings are based on the company valuations as of 20 March 2024, and the methodology excludes all private investments and liquid assets and adjusts for cross-holdings to prevent double counting.
Who are the Ambanis?
Mukesh Ambani, 67, who is the chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries, and Asia’s richest man, is worth $120bn (£94bn), according to Forbes in July 2024.
His wife, Nita Ambani, is the founder and chairperson of Reliance Foundation, Reliance Industries’ corporate social responsibility arm. She was elected by the International Olympic Committee to join as an individual member in August.
The couple have three children: Akash Ambani, 38, chairman of Reliance Jio, the telecommunications giant; daughter Isha, 38, who oversees the retail arm, and Anant, who is taking care of the energy business.
How many real estate properties do the Ambanis own?
The Ambani family home in Mumbai, named Antilia after a phantom island in the Atlantic Ocean, is the world’s second most expensive residence after Buckingham Palace. Located in the posh Altamount Road in South Mumbai, popularly called the Billionaire’s Row, the 27-storey private apartment building stands 568ft in height and is valued at $2bn (£1.56bn). The building has three helipads, a 168-car garage, multiple swimming pools, four levels of energy-saving gardens, a 50-seater movie theatre, and a fitness centre.
The Ambanis also own a 100-year-old ancestral mansion in Chorwad, in the Junagadh district of the western Indian state of Gujarat, where Reliance founder Dhirubhai Ambani grew up. Spread over 1.2 acres, the home has been restored and renovated several times over the years, and parts of it have also been open to visitors.
In Dubai, Mukesh Ambani owns a beach villa on the Palm Jumeirah Island, which he purchased in August 2022 for reportedly $80m (£63m). The villa, that was gifted to Anant, is spread over 3,000sqft, has 10 bedrooms and a 70m-long private beach.
In 2021, Mukesh Ambani drew the ire of the local community, when he bought Stoke Park in Buckinghamshire, then a popular and storied golf and country club, and shut it down for renovation. The iconic estate has been featured in two James Bond films, Goldfinger and Tomorrow Never Dies, Aishwarya Rai-starrer Bride and Prejudice, and Netflix’s hit series The Crown shot here as well.
Stoke Park, which once belonged to Queen Elizabeth I, was bought for reportedly £57m ($72m). After the local council raised concerns that the proposed renovations were allegedly unauthorised and that the Ambanis were not respecting leasehold terms that state it must be a commercial property, the management said that the estate will reopen and be turned into a 7-star hotel with a new clubhouse and a revamped golf course, reported the Financial Times.
In 2022, Mukesh Ambani bought a controlling stake of 73.4 per cent in the Mandarin Oriental in New York City for $98.2m (£76.96m). The 248-room hotel, with a state-of-the-art fitness centre and a 75ft lap pool overlooking the Hudson River, is the first pick of Hollywood royalty and hedge fund billionaires.
What other assets does Reliance Industries own?
Reliance Industries bought Mumbai Indians, a franchise cricket team that competes in the Indian Premier League (IPL), in 2008 for $112m (£88m). In 2017, the team became the first IPL franchise to cross the $100m (£78m) in brand value, and according to Forbes is valued at $1.3bn (£1bn).
The conglomerate also owns the Mumbai Indians team that plays in the Women’s Premier League, the MI Cape Town team that plays in SA20 in South Africa, MI Emirates that competes in International League T20 (ILT20) in UAE, and MI New York that competes in the Major League Cricket (MLC).
