About Dhirubhai Ambani

Dhirajlal Hirachand Ambani, better known as Dhirubhai Ambani, was one of Indias
greatest visionaries and iconic business tycoons. He was the founder of Reliance
Industries Limited (established in 1966) and contributed greatly to the companys
meteoric rise. Reliance Industries is now ranked among the worlds top 500
companies in terms of the revenue it generates. Dhirubhai Ambani also founded
Reliance Capital and Reliance Power and remained a dominant figure in the textile,
petroleum, power and infrastructure industries of India until his death in 2002.
Dhirubhais rags-to-riches story remains one of the most retold legends of corporate
India and is an inspiration to the youth of this nation.

Early Childhood and Education of Dhirubhai Ambani

Dhirubhai was born on 28 December 1932, into a Modh Baniya family, in Chorwad
village in the district of Junagarh, Gujarat. Father Hirachand Govardhandas Ambani
and mother Jamunaben Hirachand Ambani were folks of limited means and raised
Dhirubhai and his four siblings Trilochanaben, Ramnikbhai, Jasuben and Natubhai
with all what they had then. Despite being the son of a school teacher, Dhirubhai
showed little interest in formal education; however, he grew up to be a hardworking,
intelligent and tenacious young man. Even as a teenager, Dhirubhai showed a great
deal of skill in retailing, selling oil and setting up fritters stalls, thus earning money to
help his impoverished family. After completing his initial five years of education at
the village school, he went to Junagarh to study further. Though not an academically
brilliant student, Dhirubhai displayed exceptional leadership skills.
Dhirubhais confidence and organizational skills were tested when he defied the
Junagarh Nawabs ban on rallies and hoisted the Indian flag to celebrate the
countrys independence. His first speech there inspired many and he became a hero
for defying the police and the concerned authorities. The Nawab continued to hold
off from joining the Indian Republic and Dhirubhai actively participated in the Praja
Mandal protests, thus associating with patriotic rebel leaders who supported joining
India. The Nawab ultimately yielded and Junagarh became a part of independent
India.
Socialism and politics attracted 16-year-old Dhirubhai, who started dreaming about a
new and progressive India, where industries would develop at an unprecedented rate
and larger-than-life dreams of industrious young men would come true. Dhirubhai
was determined to do his bit for his country and for himself. His fathers failing health
and familys financial crisis, however, forced Dhirubhai to give up his education and
political interests and made him to set off to Aden to find work.

Dhirubhai Ambani's Early Career

By the time Dhirubhai reached Aden, it was one of the busiest ports in the world. At
Aden, he started working as a clerk with A. Besse & Co one of the biggest trading
firms in the region. Dhirubhai made good use of this opportunity and learnt much
about commodity trading, imports and exports, wholesale merchandising, marketing,
and sales and distribution. He learnt about currency trading from the people of
various nationalities whom he met at the port and mastered accounting, book
keeping and drafting legal documents by moonlighting at a Gujarati trading firm. He
soon discovered that he had a natural flair for speculative trading. In 1954, after
marrying Kokilaben, Dhirubhai was sent by his employer to work in the Shell Oil
Refinery that had come up in Aden. Having learnt the oil trade, Dhirubhai started to
dream of owning his own refinery someday. Towards the end of the decade, when all
the Indians in Aden were migrating to Britain, Dhirubhai decided to return to India

and become a part of the phenomenal growth that the country had been awaiting.
The implementation of the second five-year plan was underway and Dhirubhai
astutely grasped the promise of industrial development and his own opportunities for
growth.
Back in India, Dhirubhai found that he had very little capital to go into any purposeful
business. He eschewed the idea of opening up a small grocery or cloth shop. His
dreams were too big for him to be content with such humble trade. He immediately
got in touch with his Arabian contacts, offering to export spices, sugar and other
Indian commodities at very low prices. His margins were low; however, Dhirubhai
chose to deal in bulk and as the orders started coming in, Reliance Commercial
Corporation was born. Excellent service was its hallmark and trust became an
important factor when people traded with Reliance.

Dhirubhai Ambani becoming Polyester Prince

Dhirubhai came to be known as a dependable and astute person. At times when he
required funds, he approached Gujarati money lenders and traders with the promise
of astounding interests and bonuses. He never failed in keeping his promise,
absorbing the losses and sharing the profits with everyone. When he realized that
commodities would not take him far, Dhirubhai decided to diversify into yarn.
Dealing in textiles was a risky business as the fluctuations in prices were quite high.
Dhirubhai, however, learned the tricks of the trade quickly and realized that there
was more money in the business. He borrowed heavily and embarked on a journey
that took him to dizzying heights.
Setting up his first textile mill in Naroda, Ahemdabad, was the biggest hurdle of his
life. With other mill owners opposing the sale of Vimal, the polyester brand,
Dhirubhai and his team of highly motivated sales personnel cut through the
middlemen (wholesalers) and went straight to the retailers. The popularity of the
fabric and the persuasiveness of Dhirubhai led a number of retailers to sell "Only
Vimal". A sound marketing strategy backed up the product and all of India was soon
wearing textiles that came out of the Reliance factory. He equipped his factory with
the best technology that could scale up with the rise in demand.
The growth of Reliance Industries was unprecedented and of the likes that had not
been imagined until then. Reliance went from a turnover of Rs. 70 crore in the mid1970s to being a Rs. 75,000-crore empire in 2002. High finance was one of
Dhirubhai's key areas of success. He raised a great deal of money by issuing six
series of convertible debentures and then converting them to equity shares at a
premium. Reliance later diversified into energy, power, infrastructure services, retail,
capital markets, telecommunications, logistics and information technology. By the
time Dhirubhai died, in 2002, his sons Mukesh Ambani and Anil Ambani had taken
over the charge of Reliance Industries Limited and Dhirubhai had become a national
hero.

Reliance Industries is an Indian Multinational corporation with its

headquarters in Mumbai, India. This public company was founded in the
year 1966 by Dhirubhai Ambani and at present is headed by its MD and
Chairman Mukesh Ambani. The operations of the company include
dealings in petrochemicals, production and exploration, retail, marketing
and refining and telecommunications. Reliance Industries is ranked second
in India in terms of revenue collections and comes under the hundred
largest corporations in the world. In terms of market capitalization, RIL
comes second in the publicly traded sector. Some of the companies that are
competitors of Reliance industries are as follows

Indian Oil Corporation in the petrochemical sector

Sahara Q in the retail sector
Airtel in Telecommunication sector
Product in the Marketing mix of Reliance industries

Reliance Industries contribution to total Indian exports is nearly 14%. The

company is present in numerous sectors like logistics, textiles, retail,
natural resources, science and technology, health care, energy,
communications, construction and petrochemicals. Reliance Industries is
also the producers of Polyester Fibre, Mono-Ethylene Glycol (MEG),
Purified Terephthalic Acid (PTA) and Polypropylene (PP).
Table of Contents [hide]

1 Product in the Marketing mix of Reliance industries

2 Place in the Marketing mix of Reliance industries
3 Price in the Marketing mix of Reliance industries
4 Promotions in the Marketing mix of Reliance industries
5 Related Posts:

Retail sector includes Reliance Fresh, Reliance Digital, Reliance

Footprint, Reliance Trends, Reliance Mart, Reliance Home Kitchens,
Reliance Time Out, Reliance Wellness, Reliance Autozone, Reliance Super,
Reliance iStore, Reliance Market and Reliance Jewel.

Reliance Life Sciences includes working around industrial and

medicinal Biotechnological opportunities. It focuses on the branding,
manufacturing and marketing of products that belong to Reliance
Industriesbrand in clinical research and bio pharmaceuticals.

Reliance Institute of Life Sciences is an institution that offers the

chance for higher studies in numerous fields of life science and technology.
Reliance Solar includes producing and selling systems related to solar
energyto rural areas.
Reliance Jio Infocomm is a service provider for broadband
Reliance Industrial Infrastructure Limited has the primary objective
of building and operating pipelines that are used for the transportation of
petroleum products.
Reliance Clinical Research Services is an organization for research
programs.
Place in the Marketing mix of Reliance industries

Reliance Industries has nearly 123 subsidiaries and 10 associate firms. In

the retail sector, it is the largest retailer with nearly 1466 outlets in India.
All the outlets are located at prime locations with trained and efficient staff
to garner maximum consumers.
It will be impossible to cover the number of cities and places that reliance
industries has presence in across India. This statement itself gives you a
point of view of the large operations that are the foundation of Reliance
industries.
A fabric mill was established in the year 1966 at Naroda, Gujarat and this
was the starting point of Reliance Industries. It has manufacturing plants at
various convenient sites like Jamnagar. The petro chemical plant at Hazira
was started in 1991.
The biggest Gas discovery was by Reliance Industriesat the GodavariKrishna Basin. Reliance Industries is a very old hand at each stage of
circulation whether manufacturing, or hiring wholesalers or contracting
retailers. They have a wide network already in place for every facet
like channel, intermediary or distribution and their sound mechanism has
taken them to such unimaginable heights.
Price in the Marketing mix of Reliance industries

The pricing policy of Reliance Industries is different for different sectors.

The policy for sectors such as retail, telecommunications and health care
that are in direct contact with the consumers is mainly penetration pricing.
This is because most of these sectors are question marks and their outcome

is undetermined as of now. Retail and telecommunication both suffer huge

losses but companies invest in them looking at the future.
If the fair pricing policy is in place, then automatically the volume will rise
and in turn, it will lead to better revenues. The policy for the sector
petrochemicals is different as it is dependent largely on the current global
market, which is very flexible. The various market conditions along with the
costing and promotional expenses determine the pricing policies of the
company.
Reliance Industries has a special team of highly qualified individuals who
are the main determining factors behind every pricing policies and
decisions and this is arrived after a complete analysis and evaluation. In
some sectors like Reliance Fresh showrooms, it has dropped the services of
intermediaries and bought the items directly from its source and hence has
been able to lower the prices of the products, due to which the sale is higher
and it is able to survive in the tough retail business.
Promotions in the Marketing mix of Reliance industries

Reliance has eagerly utilized the available advertising tools so that the best
marketing strategies could be implemented. Their promotional campaigns
are clean, well made, trendy with an emotional touch and up to the mark to
attract the consumers. Reliance Industries also announces discounts and
schemes for its consumers.
However, promotions is a big expense for most companies and hence
Reliance relies more on spending less on promotions and reducing the
prices so that customers are attracted to the company. In fact, except for
the retail sector, hardly any advertising is seen from Reliance. And even if it
uses advertising, it uses more of BTL then ATL.
It has been a regular sponsor of sports activities and has bought an IPL
(cricket team). It also holds various rehabilitation programs for the
downtrodden people.