Roots · उद्योग Enterprise

Reliance: think big, then build bigger.

From a small trading firm in Mumbai to India’s most profitable company. The record of Dhirubhai and Mukesh Ambani, with its wins, its setbacks and its critics.

From Aden to Jamnagar.

Mukesh Ambani at the World Economic Forum’s India summit, 2007. Photograph: World Economic Forum, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0.
Founded
1958 by Dhirubhai Ambani as Reliance Commercial Corporation, a small trading firm in Mumbai. He had worked about five years at A. Besse & Co. in Aden. Britannica (Reliance Industries) · ThePrint, 28 Dec 2018
Built by
Dhirubhai Ambani (1932–2002). Mukesh Ambani, chairman since 2002. Isha, Akash and Anant Ambani joined the board in 2023. Anant became an executive director in May 2025. Reliance, our history · Outlook Business, 26 Apr 2025
Scale, FY26
Revenue ₹11.76 lakh crore, net profit ₹95,754 crore and exports of ₹2.79 lakh crore, about 6.7% of India’s merchandise exports. Reported as the first Indian company to earn more than $10 billion in a year. The Tribune, 19 Jun 2026 · The Tribune, 28 May 2026 · DSIJ, on the 2026 AGM
Reach
Jio has more than 52 crore subscribers. Reliance Retail runs more than 20,000 stores. DSIJ, on the 2026 AGM · Business Today, 19 Jun 2026

Reliance in FY26, four figures.

  • ₹95,754 cr Net profit, FY26: Up 17.8%
  • ₹1.44 lakh cr Capital spending, FY26
  • ₹2.16 lakh cr Paid to the exchequer, FY26
  • 1.24 mn Barrels a day at Jamnagar: The world’s largest refining complex

Company figures as reported in May and Jun 2026.

Jio World Centre, Mumbai, opened in 2022. Photograph: DesiBoy101, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0.
Sources
Results, capital spending and taxes paid. Jamnagar capacity. The Tribune, 19 Jun 2026 · The Tribune, 28 May 2026 · Wikipedia (Jamnagar refinery)

What was built and what it cost.

  1. 1966 · Naroda and Vimal (vijay). The first mill opened at Naroda in Gujarat. Its Vimal fabric became one of India’s best-selling brands. Owning the brand beats owning only the loom. Britannica (Reliance Industries) · ThePrint, 28 Dec 2018
  2. 1977 · The small shareholder (vijay). The IPO was oversubscribed seven times by more than 58,000 investors. Reliance calls it the start of India’s equity culture. Small shareholders can be partners and a source of capital. Reliance, our history · ThePrint, 28 Dec 2018
  3. 1980s · The polyester war (both). Backward integration began with a yarn plant at Patalganga. A bitter rivalry with Bombay Dyeing’s Nusli Wadia followed. Wadia accused Reliance of manipulating policy. Closeness to policy brings doubts that last. Reliance, our history · ThePrint, 28 Dec 2018
  4. 1999 · Jamnagar (vijay). The refinery was commissioned in 1999 and is now the world’s largest refining complex at 1.24 million barrels a day. Build at world scale to win on cost. Wikipedia (Jamnagar refinery) · Reliance, our history
  5. 2002–2005 · The founder goes, the family splits (anubhav). Dhirubhai died in July 2002. In 2005 his widow Kokilaben brokered a split. Mukesh kept Reliance Industries and Anil took telecom, power and finance. Plan succession while the founder is alive. Britannica (Reliance Industries) · ThePrint, 28 Dec 2018
  6. 2009–2020 · KG-D6 (anubhav). The deep-water gas field began production in 2009 and then fell far short of plan. The government disallowed $3.02 billion of costs and arbitration followed. A further government claim of about $30 billion awaits an award. Promising output you do not control buys years of disputes. DT Next, 30 Dec 2025 · Outlook Business, 4 Mar 2025
  7. Sep 2016 · Jio (vijay). Free calls and cheap data reached 100 million users in 170 days. Mobile data fell from about ₹200 a gigabyte to ₹10 to ₹50. Several rivals closed or merged. Price can reset a whole market. For India it was a gain. For rivals it was the end. Reliance, a 40-year journey · Wikipedia (the Jio data revolution)
  8. 2020 · Net debt free (vijay). Stake sales in Jio Platforms to Facebook, Google and others and a ₹53,124 crore rights issue raised more than $22 billion. Reliance declared itself net debt free in Jun 2020, eight months early. Gross debt stayed on the books. A public deadline forces discipline. Malay Mail, 19 Jun 2020 · Business Today, 23 Jun 2020
  9. Nov 2024 · JioStar (vijay). Viacom18 and Disney’s Star India merged into a ₹70,352 crore company chaired by Nita Ambani. Buy scale in a market you cannot build fast enough. YourStory, Nov 2024
  10. 2026 · New energy and AI (vijay). The clean energy giga complex at Jamnagar began delivering solar modules in May 2026. At the Jun 2026 AGM Reliance announced AI infrastructure at Jamnagar. The Tribune, 28 May 2026 · DSIJ, on the 2026 AGM
  11. May 2026 · The SEBI case (both). The Supreme Court set aside SEBI’s fraud finding and ₹447 crore disgorgement over 2007 trades in Reliance Petroleum shares. A ₹25 crore penalty stands. Free Press Journal, May 2026
  12. Oct 2026 · The Jio IPO (vijay). Jio Platforms priced a ₹30,213 crore issue, reported as India’s largest. It was subscribed 21 times. Listing is due in late October. In the same month Reliance’s own shares were about 23% lower for the year. ThePrint/PTI, 14 Oct 2026 · Chittorgarh, Jio Platforms IPO · Kotak Neo, 21 Oct 2026

The foundation and the hospital.

Reliance Foundation
Set up in 2010 and chaired by Nita Ambani. It works in rural development, health, education and sport. It reports reaching about 9.7 crore people. Wikipedia (Reliance Foundation) · Reliance, our impact
CSR spending
₹2,248 crore in FY26. The Tribune, 28 May 2026

What a founder can take from it.

  • Integrate backwards. Fabric led to yarn, yarn to polyester, polyester to refining. Each step took control of the cost below.
  • Build at a scale nobody else will. Jamnagar and Jio were both sized for the whole country from the first day.
  • Sell a minority to fund the next leap. The 2020 stake sales paid for Jio without giving up control.
  • Do not promise output you do not control. KG-D6 is a decade-long lesson in under-promising.

What each side says.

Four lines the group is known for.

  • “Think big, think fast, think ahead. Ideas are no one’s monopoly.”. Attributed to Dhirubhai Ambani, as his son recalls it. The Week, 19 Dec 2021
  • “Our dreams have to be bigger. Our ambitions higher.”. Dhirubhai Ambani. Reliance, our history
  • “Data is the new oil. India does not need to import it.”. Mukesh Ambani, 27 Sep 2017. Business Standard/IANS, 27 Sep 2017
  • “If you are an entrepreneur, you will figure it out.”. Dhirubhai to his son, as Mukesh told it in 2017. Business Today, Feb 2017