Top Gainer

Reliance Industries’ fund raising spree has pushed the stock to a lifetime high, taking its chairman’s net worth to $80 billion, making him the fifth richest in the world

- SAMAR SRIVASTAVA

A NEW, AFFORDABLE ANDROID based smartphone; an accelerated rollout of JioMart; and a spinoff of the oil to chemical (O2C) business into a subsidiary are among the top priorities for Reliance Industries (RIL)—owner of Network 18, publisher of Forbes India—as it aims to transform itself into a consumer-led technology and platform company.

This transformation announced at its keenly watched annual general meeting resulted in a beeline for the stock and pushed its chairman Mukesh Ambani’s net wealth to $80 billion. He is the only Asian to feature in the top 10 and trails Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, LVMH Chairman Bernard Arnault, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and Amazon CEO JeffBezos.