Mukesh Ambani tops Forbes’ India Rich List

India’s rising stock market and a booming economy that’s expanding by 8.5% have boosted the net worth of India’s richest people, according to the latest Forbes’ India Rich List. The combined net worth of India’s 100 richest people is US$300bn, up from US$276bn last year. This year, there are 69 billionaires on the India Rich List, 17 more than last year. Mukesh Ambani, head of Reliance Industries, has topped the latest Forbes’ India Rich List with a net worth of US$27bn, for the third consecutive time. Steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal, remains at No. 2 with a net worth of US$26.1bn. However both are less well off than they were a year ago. Moving up to third position this year is IT outsourcer Wipro’s Azim Premji. His wealth increased to US$17.6bn from US$14.9bn last year amid an improving outlook for the sector. Also improving on their previous ranking to No. 4 are brothers Shashi and Ravi Ruia with US$15bn, more than their last year’s net worth of US$13.6bn. The IPO of their Essar Energy in May, which raised US$1.85bn, was the largest ever listing in London by an Indian company.

Anil Ambani to Mukesh Ambani - Full Text

"In June 2005, with the blessings and approval of my respected mother Kokilaben Ambani, and in line with the vision and value creation philosophy of our beloved founder Chairman, Dhirubhai Ambani, we announced the restructuring of the Reliance Group.

I had sincerely believed then, that we had resolved all issues, and come to an amicable settlement that would create two of India's most dynamic business groups, bring peace and harmony to our family, and generate substantial wealth for millions of shareholders of the Reliance family.

Over the past 4 years, some parts of that promise have been realised.

Unfortunately, the joy of that achievement has been tempered by the sorrow, pain and anguish of continuing disagreement and acrimony with my elder brother, Mukeshbhai.

Over these past 4 years, I have persevered with utmost sincerity, humility and good faith, and left no stone unturned to try and resolve our differences.

To my lasting regret, despite all my well-meaning efforts, I have failed - pushing us even to the extreme step of recourse to litigation to protect the interests of over 11 million shareholders of our Group.

Over the past few weeks, many elder statesmen, trusted family members, and long-standing friends of my father, Dhirubhai Ambani, who have always had the best interests of the nation and the Ambani family at heart, have talked of the need to break the current impasse, and to find a solution that puts an end to this bitterness and rancor; and paves the way for substantial future growth and value creation for the country and millions of our shareholders.

I agree with each one of them. This has been a time of deep sadness and pain for me personally.

Yet, throughout this very trying period, I have maintained the greatest of love, affection and respect for Mukeshbhai - as I have done since my birth.

In that spirit, I have made this pilgrimage today to the holy shrines of Kedarnath and Badrinath, in the hope of seeking divine inspiration and blessings, in trying to heal the wounds, and in making a renewed effort to resolve, reconcile and reciprocate.

I sincerely believe that Mukeshbhai and I can, even at this late stage, sort out all our disagreements, in a constructive, cordial and conciliatory manner, if we both commit to getting this done.

The issues are only a handful, and the facts are well known. My judgement says that they can all be resolved in a matter of weeks, and will not require several months of discussions.

Accordingly, with the blessings of my mother, and invoking the power of Lord Shiva from this most sacred of holy places, I am once again reaching out to Mukeshbhai - and hope and pray that my feelings will be reciprocated, and we will arrive at a solution to all outstanding issues, with a generous heart, a willing mind, and an accommodating spirit.

There can be no better gift to my mother, Kokilaben Ambani in her 75th year, and to the legacy of our beloved father, Dhirubhai Ambani, the proud creator of the Reliance Group."

via TOI

Richest - no more .. Ambani wealth erodes

The next time Forbes announces its list of billionaires (assuming it dares to do so even amid a massive wealth destruction globally),
chances are that many Indian tycoons will find to their dismay that their rankings have slipped a few notches.

Even if they managed to retain their slots, or even climb up a few rungs, it would still be cold comfort, as few billion of their wealth would evaporate amid the ongoing turmoil in the stock market
.

As the late British financier Sir James Goldsmith remarked when congratulated for cashing out before the stock market crash of 1987, "It is like winning a game of bridge on the decks of the Titanic."

The Sensex recorded the second-biggest single-day fall in absolute terms on Friday when it crashed by 1,071 points, or 11%, to close at 8,701. With this, the index has crashed more than 12,000 points, or nearly 60%, since its peak of 20,873 achieved on January 8, 2008.

Market cap of all the companies traded on the Bombay Stock Exchange
(BSE) has evaporated by a staggering Rs 46 lakh crore, or $940bn during the period. So, how poorer have top industrialists like the Ambanis, Tatas and Birlas become after the meltdown in the share prices of their companies?

An ET analysis of promoter wealth loss between January 8 and October 24, 2008, shows that the two Ambani brothers bore the brunt of the stock market mayhem, witnessing the highest wealth erosion among promoters of the top business houses in the country.

Though still dominating the market cap ranking, RIL chairman Mukesh Ambani saw his personal wealth crash from $57.6bn as on January 8 to $14.4bn as on Friday, a fall of 75% since January 8.

A major part of the wealth erosion happened in the flagship company, RIL, whose market cap has declined by Rs 2.8 lakh crore, or $57bn. The market cap of two other group companies Reliance Petroleum and Reliance Industrial Infrastructure fell by $15.3bn and $0.7bn during the period.

Mukesh’s younger brother Anil Ambani of the ADAG group saw his wealth tumble from $48.4bn to $8.4bn, a loss of 83%. His five companies, Reliance Communication, Reliance Capital, RNRL, Reliance Infrastructure and Adlabs Films, recorded an aggregate market cap loss of $53.7bn.

Realty major DLF is the third-biggest loser where the promoter wealth has eroded from $44bn to as low as $6bn. DLF is followed by Tatas who saw their wealth in 27 listed companies plunge from $38.2bn to $12.8bn, a loss of 67%.

TCS, Tata Motors, Tata Power, Tata Communications and Tata Teleservices are among the key companies in the Tata group to have taken a big hit on market cap during January 8 to October 24 2008.

Via TOI

Mukesh Ambani - Most Expensive Home

Owners of 168 cars

The house is 173.12 metres tall, equal to a 60-floor building. However, his home will have only 27 floors, meaning that every floor will have an extremely high ceiling.

The first six floors are intended exclusively as a parking area, for cars which belong to the Mukesh family. A total of 168.

The eighth floor is an entertainment centre with a mini theatre and about 50 seats. The ceiling of the mini theatre is a garden and above it are three more balconies with special gardens – a replica of the gardens of Babylon.

27 floors for a 6-member family

The ninth floor was created for emergency rescue, while two floors above it are reserved for treatments and health.

One of them is furnished with sports equipment, halls and a swimming pool, while the other is a cutting edge gym. Above the health floors are guest rooms which have glass walls instead of classic ones.

The first four floors have a wonderful view of the Arabian Sea and the city itself. These floors are intended for Mukesh, his wife Neeta, their three children and Mukesh`s mother Kokilaben.

600 servants

The top two floors will be maintenance rooms and a control room, which will assist helicopters as they land on the roof

A 600-man permanently employed staff is necessary for maintenance. The home took four years to be built. Atilla does not only impress with its size, but with its most luxurious interior design.

Mukesh owns Reliance Industries, the largest Indian private oil and bio technology company. During the time of Mukesh`s father Dhiru Bhai, wealthy Indians used to hide their fortune.

Obviously, this trend has changed and those who have money want to show it to the entire world

via Javno.com

Mukesh Ambani's Salary...

Top business house Reliance Industries has given its chief Mukesh Ambani, the country`s richest person and presumably top-paid executive, a hefty pay hike of about 45 per cent to take his annual remuneration to over 10 million dollars.

Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director of Reliance Industries, got a total payout of Rs 44.02 crore in financial year 2007-08, marking an increase of about Rs 13.5 crore from the previous fiscal.

In fiscal 2006-07, Ambani`s annual remuneration had increased to Rs 30.46 crore, from Rs 24.77 crore previously.

However, a large part of Ambani`s full-year pay cheque comes in the form of commissions that the company pays to select executives as a ratio of its net profits.

According to the company`s annual report being sent to shareholders, Ambani got a salary of Rs 60 lakh (Rs five lakh per month) and another Rs 48 lakh (Rs four lakh per month) in the name of "perquisites and allowances".

In addition, he got Rs 18.75 lakh under the head of "retiral benefits" and Rs 4,275.44 lakh toward commission on net profit, taking his total to Rs 4,402.19 lakh for 2007-08.

RIL chief was the top-paid executive in fiscal 2006-07, followed by Madras Cement`s Chairman and MD P R R Rajha, who had an annual payout of about Rs 24.8 crore.

However, Ambani, who was ranked as world`s fifth richest by Forbes magazine earlier this year with a net worth of USD 43 billion, may not find a place even among the 200 most paid chiefs globally.

In a separate list, Forbes named Oracle`s CEO Larry Ellision at the top of 500 most paid CEOs in the US with a pay cheque of USD 192.9 million. A total 177 CEOs in the list had a salary of over USD 10 million.

It is not yet clear whether Ambani would be highest paid executive in India for 2007-08, as most of the companies are yet to disclose the remuneration figures for that year.

Among the Indian companies that have disclosed their top-management salaries so far for 2007-08, managing directors of Merck, ICI India and Crisil have their annual pay cheques running into crores -- but they are way behind Ambani.

Merck`s M Dziki got Rs 2.02 crore, while ICI India`s Rajiv Jain and Crisil`s Roopa Kudva got Rs 1.25 crore and Rs 1.1 crore respectively in the latest fiscal.

Mukesh Ambani has been CMD of RIL since July 31, 2002. His current term expires on April 18, 2009. RIL`s board of directors at a meeting held on April 21, 2008 approved re-appointment of Ambani for a further five years at a remuneration determined by the concerned committee.

The shareholders would vote on these board decisions at the company`s 34th AGM to be held on June 12, 2008.

Addressing the shareholders, Ambani said in the annual report that the company "set new records for turnover, net profits and dividend payout."

He said that RIL has become India`s first private sector company to surpass cash profit of Rs 25,000 crore and net profit of Rs 15,000 crore.

"India`s growth is creating wealth and jobs across the world. We are an integral part of this evolution and have the responsibility to accelerate India`s growth by reinvesting our cash flow in our business," he wrote.

Ambani`s pay hike of about 45 per cent is even higher than the rise in total managerial remuneration given by RIL in the latest fiscal.

RIL paid total managerial remuneration of Rs 67.53 crore in 2007-08, up 43 per cent from Rs 47.14 crore in the previous fiscal. The figure stood at Rs 44.36 crore in 2005-06.

The company paid its non-executive directors a total of Rs 1.85 crore in the latest fiscal, up from Rs one crore in 2006-07 but down from Rs two crore in 2005-06.

The perquisites and allowances include accommodation or house rent allowance in lieu thereof, house maintenance allowance together with reimbursement of expenses for gas, electricity, water, furnishing and repairs, medical reimbursement, leave travel concession for self and family, club fees and medical insurance, among others.

However, reimbursement for expenses like business trips, car use for company business and residence telephone expenses are not considered as perquisites, although they would be reimbursed, the annual report said.

Mukesh v Anil Ambani

In real life, the two Ambani brothers — Mukesh and Anil — may not be close to each other but in the roller-coaster, volatile world of the stock market which decides who is the richest, they are narrowing the gap between them rapidly. One witnessed the exciting pace between the two for the number one position in "riches" in 2007.

Mukesh became the richest Indian in India in 2007. But Anil was not very far behind. The total market cap of Mukesh’s companies — Reliance Industries, Reliance Petroleum, IPCL (which has now been merged) and Reliance Industrial Infrastructure Ltd — was Rs 1,93,980 crores, or $48.5 billion, as on December 11, 2007.

Anil’s wealth in terms of market capitalisation of his six listed companies was Rs 1,66,876 crores, or $41.7 billion, as on December 11, 2007. Since wealth here is calculated on the basis of their holdings in their companies it is interesting to see how their shares suddenly shot up almost in tandem in the middle of the year without any or little change in the fundamentals of their companies.

Stocks of the Mukesh stable went up like this: Reliance Industries scrip, which was Rs 1,284 on March 15, 2007, closed at Rs 2,818 on November 29, 2007, a growth of 120 per cent, Reliance Infrastructure from Rs 416 to Rs 1,886 in the same period, a rise of 260 per cent, and Reliance Petroleum Limited from Rs 69 to Rs 215, a rise of 213 per cent from March to November, though not a single litre of petrol was produced and the refinery is yet to come up.

Stocks of the Anil group went up as follows: Adlabs Films went from Rs 407 on March 15, 2007 to Rs 939 on November 29, a rise of 131 per cent, Reliance Capital from Rs 598 to Rs 2,278, a rise of 281 per cent, Reliance Communications from Rs 391 to Rs 665, a rise of 70 per cent, Reliance Energy from Rs 462 to Rs 1,664, a rise of 260 per cent, even though the company has not added a single megawatt of new power during the year, and RNRL from Rs 22 to Rs 153, a rise of 597 per cent on no ostensible development.

Where and how stock prices move is one of the huge mysteries of the stock market and the mystery is compounded because the way that the stocks have risen is reminiscent of the way stocks went up during 2002 and ended up in what is labelled as the Ketan Parekh scam. He had a few favourites stocks and they were even called the K-10 stocks. It was later discovered that Ketan Parekh was operating through participatory notes (PNotes) and stocks were pushed up through circular trading.

Analysts taken by surprise: Till the R stocks, as they are referred to, reached these heady heights, not a single analyst or brokerage house had given these stocks the targets that were achieved in reality. The question being asked is whether all analysts were wrong. Does research really have any value? Or is there something more to the R stocks going up?

For instance, in June, Merrill Lynch had given a target of Rs 1,807 for Reliance, a rise of eight per cent; Khandwala Securities a target price of Rs 2,120, or a rise of 27 per cent, when the price was ruling at Rs 1,674; Kotak Institution had given it a negative of 10 per cent, at Rs 1,525, when the stock price was Rs 1,698.

That all analysts can go wrong is not unheard off in these days of the subprime crisis. Not a single analyst or brokerage house, for instance, predicted such a crisis which had been making for a year. But, as some brokers say, the Ambanis are a different league altogether. If some C grade promoter’s stocks had gone up at such a scorching pace, they would have been caught for price manipulation. But in the case of the Ambanis it is very cleverly called "rerating" of stocks.

Financial institutions don’t book profits: Most of the trading in the Reliance stocks seem to have been done in the futures and options sector which is like a casino. According to brokers who track the market, with all this trading, there has been no change in the shareholding pattern of these companies. It should have been reflected in the shareholding pattern in the June and September quarters but there is no change.

What is interesting in this whole ramping up of the R shares is that the institutions have been hanging on to the scrip instead of booking profits.

Ketan Parekh scam: It is an uncanny coincidence that UTI did just this during the Ketan Parekh scam. When K10 stocks like Himachal Futuristic went up without any reason and with such exuberance, the institutions did not sell but clung on to them.

The result was that when the scam blew up, UTI was left with worthless pieces of paper of stocks like DSQ, Pentamedia, Global Tele etc.

In the case of R stocks, too, financial institutions do not seem to be booking profits and continue, according to information provided to the stock exchange, to hold the same number of shares.

Olga Tellis
Via Asian Age

Mukesh Ambani Richest!

Billionaire Mukesh Ambani on Monday became the richest person in the world, surpassing American software czar Bill Gates, Mexican business tycoon Carlos Slim Helu and famous investment guru Warren Buffett, courtesy the bull run in the stock market.

Following a strong share price rally on in his three group companie, India's most valued firm Reliance Industries, Reliance Petroleum and Reliance Industrial Infrastructure Ltd, the net worth of Mukesh Ambani rose to $63.2 billion (Rs 2,49,108 crore).

In comparison, the net worth of both Gates and Slim is estimated to be slightly lower at around $62.29 billion each, with Slim leading among the two by a narrow margin.

Warren Buffett, earlier the third richest in the world, also dropped one position with a net worth of about $56 billion.

Ambani's wealth of about Rs 2,49,000 crore includes about Rs 2,10,000 crore from RIL (50.98 per cent stake), Rs 37,500 crore from RPL (37.5 per cent) and Rs 2,100 crore from RIIL (46.23 per cent).

Slim's wealth has been calculated on the basis of his stake in companies like America Movil (30 per cent), Carso Global (82 per cent), Grupo Carso (75 per cent), Inbursa (67 per cent), IDEAL (30 per cent) and Saks Inc (10 per cent).

According to information available with the US and Mexican stock exchanges where these companies are listed, Slim currently holds shares worth a total of $62.2993 billion, with more than half coming from Latin American mobile major America Movil. Slim is closely followed by Gates with a net worth of $62.29 billion currently.

Earlier last month, US business magazine Forbes had named Gates as the richest American with a net worth of $59 billion, calculated as on August 30. The magazine had said that a movement of two dollars in the share price for Microsoft, the world's biggest software maker, could "add or subtract a billion dollars" from his wealth.

Since August-end, Microsoft's share price has risen by $6.58 (based on yesterday's closing on Nasdaq at $35.03), which results into a gain of $3.29 billion in Gates' wealth based on Forbes assumption.

Besides a stake in Microsoft, Gates' wealth also includes the commission and license fees earned by him and gains through his shares in an investment holding company that invests across the market.

Gates is followed by Buffett at the fourth place in the league of the world's richest with a net worth of $55.9 billion through his holding in his investment vehicle Berkshire Hathaway and in other companies. At the end of August, Buffett's wealth stood at $52 billion, as per the Forbes magazine. Berkshire Hathaway's share price has gained by about 7.5 per cent since then.

Earlier on September 26, Ambani had overtaken steel czar Lakshmi Mittal to become the richest Indian in the world.

Mittal currently ranks as the fifth richest in the world with a net worth of $50.9 billion through his 44.79 per cent stake in world's biggest steel maker ArcelorMittal.

While most of Mittal's wealth comes from his steel empire, though he has also spread his wings into businesses like oil and real estate, those of Ambani and Gates are mostly through petrochemicals and software respectively. However, Buffett and Slim are making money from investments across a host of sectors.

Ambani brothers - making investors happy

The Ambani brothers may well be cracking the whip on the stock market bulls that have lifted investors’ wealth by Rs five trillion, 20 per cent of which is accounted for by their own companies.

The ongoing surge in the stock market has seen the market value of all Indian companies growing by about Rs 20 trillion since the beginning of the current fiscal -- out of which about Rs four trillion has been contributed by the companies controlled by the two Ambani groups.

Moreover, this gain of about Rs four trillion in market value is nearly double of the additional wealth created by the companies controlled by three other entrepreneurs who make up the list of five richest businessmen in India.

Mukesh Ambani group companies, led by the country's most valued firm Reliance Industries, have contributed close to Rs 2.5 trillion to the rise in investors' wealth, followed by about Rs 1.5 trillion by the ADA group.

In comparison, Bharti Airtel, led by Sunil Mittal, has seen its market value soaring by over Rs 75,000 crore in the same period, while KP Singh-led realty giant DLF Ltd has added close to Rs 1.5 trillion to the investors' kitty. DLF was not listed at the beginning of this fiscal.

Wipro, led by the fifth richest Indian Azim Premji, has actually seen its market value declining by Rs 3,800 crore.

The market benchmark Sensex has gained about 6,000 points or about 45 per cent during this period, while the total investor wealth has grown to over Rs 58 trillion from just about Rs 38 trillion at the end of last fiscal.

The country's ten most valued firms -- including PSUs ONGC, NTPC and BHEL besides RIL, Reliance Comm, Bharti Airtel, DLF and ICICI Bank, have contributed a total of about Rs 9 trillion to the gain in investors' wealth.

While the stock market today closed on broadly flat note with the Sensex ending seven points down at 19,051.86, a number of companies from the two Reliance groups rose, with a few even managing to scale new peaks.
RIL dropped 0.6 per cent to Rs 2,648.30; RPL settled 1.5 per cent up at Rs 183.74 after hitting a peak of Rs 185.

Reliance Industrial Infrastructure Ltd also rose 5 per cent to an all-time high of Rs 2,384.90.

In the Anil Ambani group, Reliance Capital rose four per cent to Rs 1948.20 after scaling a peak of Rs 1970, Reliance Communications ended 1 per cent up at Rs 760.65 and hit a peak of Rs 778.50, Reliance Energy rose 3.1 per cent to Rs 1904.40 and scaled a record high of Rs 1959.

Reliance Natural Resources Ltd (RNRL) and Adlabs Films ended lower. Shares of Bharti Airtel and Wipro also ended lower, while that of DLF gained about 2.4 per cent.

The combined market value of the ten biggest companies in terms of market cap currently stands at about Rs 18 trillion, which is nearly double of about Rs nine trillion at the end of the last fiscal.

The collective investor wealth in all the companies controlled by the five richest Indians has grown to about Rs 11.7 trillion from about Rs 5.5 trillion at the beginning of this fiscal, while that of all the companies controlled by the two Ambani brothers has grown to about Rs 7.3 trillion from about Rs 3.35 trillion.

Among individual companies, RIL is the biggest gainer with about Rs 1.9 trillion, while Reliance Communications and Bharti Airtel have seen a gain of Rs 70,000-75,000 crore each. RPL has added close to Rs 50,000 crore, while Reliance Capital and Reliance Energy have each gained about Rs 30,000 crore each.

Reliance AGM - Mukesh Ambani Speech

Reliance AGM - Mukesh Ambani Speech

Mukesh Ambani at Reliance AGM

The shareholders of Reliance Industries today gave a standing ovation to Chairman Mukesh Ambani at the company’s 33rd annual general meeting. In return, a visibly embarrassed Ambani presented them a five-pronged strategy to become a global leader.

Addressing shareholders, who congratulated him for receiving a doctoral degree from the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda – some even recited poems dedicated to the chairman – Ambani said the strategy pivots on organic growth, joint ventures, entry into the rural and agricultural sector, innovation and foray into other countries.

The shareholders were in a jubilant mood, anticipating a “favourable announcement” including a bonus issue to commemorate the 30th year of listing of the company. But Ambani remained noncommittal. He said the Reliance board would meet on Thursday and the decision to be taken at the meeting would be beneficial for all stakeholders. The agenda of the next week’s board meeting includes quarterly results.

Reliance has investments that will fetch $28 billion (Rs 112,000 crore) at current prices, giving the company the finances to pursue growth options of “significant size and scale,” he said. The company plans to build chemical businesses in Egypt and Russia, and expects to make new hydrocarbon discoveries.

Ambani said Reliance Petroleum, which is building a 580,000 barrel per day refinery at Jamnagar, Gujarat, would be completed ahead of schedule. The facility, which is coming up near Reliance Industries' 660,000 barrel per day refinery, was scheduled for completion by the end of next year.

He said the company would spend $8-$9 billion (Rs 32,000-36,000 crore) over three to four years at its petrochemical and refining complex in Gujarat.

Industry sources said overseas growth will help Reliance offset the impact of local price controls on oil and gas. The company is facing protests from street vendors and shopkeepers for expanding its retail business. In fact, Reliance is going slow on retail expansion and was forced to down shutters at some of its stores selling products ranging from fruits and vegetables to electronic goods.

Although Ambani was comfortable divulging the billion-dollar expansion plans of his company, he appeared shy on discussing his personal wealth.

Recently, he emerged as the richest Indian, riding on Reliance’s performance on the bourses. “I measure my success by the value that I create for my shareholders and the assets that we, as a company, create for the nation as a whole. My wealth and your wealth are inevitably linked to our growth," he said on a philosophical note.

Ambani brothers - the richest in the world

Move over Bills Gates, Carlos Slim and LN Mittal, the Ambanis are coming. While you may still be figuring out your gains from the phenomenal 788 points rally on Tuesday, the Ambani brothers are on their way to the top echelons of global billionaires’ club. By the time the market closed on Tuesday, the Ambani brothers were worth nearly $81 billion. That is a whopping 8% of what India’s GDP was last year.

Combined, this is greater than the net worth of Carlos Slim, the Mexican billionaire, who was recently crowned as world’s wealthiest individual ahead of Bill Gates.

In all, the top-15 business families in India (excluding the Tatas) added close to $11 billion to their net worth all in a day. The combined net worth of the top 15 stands at $213 billion, or close to 20%, of the GDP.

What’s more, Mukesh Ambani is now within striking distance of dethroning LN Mittal as the richest Indian. Though the latest figures are not available, LN Mittal is estimated to be worth around $48 billion, only $2 billion more than the current net worth of Mukesh Ambani. Another 4% appreciation in Reliance Industries stock price and Mukesh Ambani will go past Mr Mittal. The rate at which the Mukesh Ambani-owned companies are going, his net worth rose by $3.25 billion on Tuesday, this might well have happened by the end of the day.

Equally astonishing has been the rise of Anil Ambani. The younger Ambani sibling added over $3 billion to his net worth on Tuesday. He is now worth nearly $35 billion and second only to his elder brother.

The other big gainer for the day was Sunil Bharti Mittal, who is riding high on the rising market capitalisation of Bharti Airtel. The telecom czar added nearly $1.25 billion to his net worth on Tuesday, thanks to a 5.6% rise in his company’s market price. He is now worth $22.4 billion. DLF’s KP Singh also got richer by a billion dollars and he is just a shade behind Anil Ambani at $32.6 billion at number three. (All calculations have been made by netting out the crossholding among group companies)

Mukesh bhai richest Indian !

Internet major Google is in early stages of negotiations with Reliance Communications to take a part of the Flag Telecom’s trans-Pacific undersea communications cable on a long-term lease.

Google is believed to be in talks to take on lease 500 GB bandwidth and this, according to industry sources, puts the deal size at around $80-100 million (Rs 320-400 crore).

According to sources close to the development, the companies have initiated talks to set up a joint cable under a “cooperative arrangement”.

Under the broad contours of the discussions, Flag Telecom will sell dark fibre to Google. This will help Google save the cost of duplicating a fibre optic network, which would cost around $350-380 million (Rs 1,400-1,500 crore).

With the availability of dark fibre, Google will only need to invest in lighting up the cable, and it would give the company a self-managed, fully secure network.

While for Reliance Communications, with such a pre-sale deal, it would get a reasonable proportion of the capex that would be used for construction of the cable.

When contacted, a Reliance Communications spokesperson declined to comment.

Sources also said Reliance Communications would also look at selling lit-capacity on its global internet protocol networks to Google. Flag has lit-up capacity on its Falcon cable in Wes Asia and other cables on the Mediterranean and East African coasts.

Flag Telecom had recently announced its plan to set up trans-Pacific cable, under its Rs 6,000 crore next- generation network expansion plan. A cable on the trans-Pacific route would cost around Rs 1,400-1,500 crore. ($350-380 million).

Flag has recently awarded construction of its four submarine cables under the Flag NGN plan to Japanese giant Fujitsu.

The move also gains importance as Google was planning to set up its own sub-sea cable across Pacific, under a project called Unity. However, it could not be ascertained whether Google would go ahead with the project or shelve it by leasing a portion of Flag’s trans-Pacific system.

Mukesh Ambani v Anil Ambani - Two Years of Separation

Mukesh Ambani v Anil Ambani - Two Years of Separation