The Fortunate Son

For a decade India’s richest man waged a blood feud with his younger brother for control of the subcontinent’s telecommunications industry. Now Mukesh Ambani shares the inside story of his ultimate triumph—Jio, an ultra-cheap 4G broadband service whose biggest winners will be the millions of ordinary Indians who suddenly consume more mobile data than either the U.S. or China.

- Naazneen karmali

On a cool, dry evening late last year, 50,000 employees and friends of Reliance Industries, India’s most valuable company, packed into a cavernous temporary stadium 25 miles outside downtown Mumbai to celebrate the firm’s 40th annual “Family Day.” Another 200,000 people dialled in via video link to watch the show, which was hosted by Bollywood mega-celeb Shah Rukh Khan (33.6 million Twitter followers), singer Sonu Nigam (18.8 million likes on Facebook) and veteran actor and game-show host Ambitabh Bachchan, who staged a round of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? The five-hour event culminated with dazzling fireworks and a midnight feast featuring vegetarian delicacies like chickpea-and-rice-flour dumplings, spicy cottage cheese and lentils.

But the real star of the occasion was Mukesh Ambani, Reliance’s 60-year-old chairman, managing director and largest shareholder and the 19th-richest man in the world, with a net worth of $40.1 billion. “Can Reliance be among the top 20 companies in the world?” he called out to the crowd, which obediently raised their lamps, turning the arena into a moving sea of lights. “Yes, we can! Yes, we will!”

Ambani’s ambition is understandable given the scope of what he has already achieved. Reliance is the 106th-largest company in the world, having earned some $4.6 billion in profits last year on $50.9 billion in sales. The firm is a major player in oil and gas and operates one of the largest oil refineries in the world. It is the largest retailer in India and has important ventures in life sciences, textiles and telecommunications. Its Network18 media subsidiary has partnerships with prominent Western brands like CNBC, CNN, MTV and Nickelodeon (television), Paramount Pictures (film) and Forbes (print).