TOP OF THE CHARTS

Since the first Fortune India 500 list in 2010, Indian Oil has been the topper. But this year, Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries has beaten it to the No.1 spot.

- RAJIV BHUVA

MUKESH AMBANI, chairman of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), has had a good year. At the company’s annual general meeting in August, he unveiled plans to pare debt, announced the biggest foreign investment in RIL’s history, and outlined his vision for a consumer-facing future. In October, RIL announced it will create a new super subsidiary for its telecom and digital services business, priming it for a potential stake sale that Ambani has been contemplating for some time.

The end of the year has brought more happy tidings. On November 28, RIL became the first Indian company to hit a market capitalisation (m-cap) of Ì€ 10 lakh crore or around $139 billion. The RIL stock also hit its all-time high of ₹1,614 on December 2, boosting the net worth of Asia’s richest billionaire to above $60 billion, making him one of the 10 richest people on earth. And to top it all, RIL has become the largest company in the Fortune India 500 list for 2019, dislodging Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) from the top spot for the first time since the list’s inception.