Mukesh Ambani: Racing ahead of peers

Mukesh Ambani

Mukesh Ambani, who spent the last decade sowing the seeds of his consumer businesses, is now reaping the benefits. As investors begin to price in potential earnings from telecom and retail along with his mainstay, petrochemicals, India’s richest person has seen his net wealth rise by 24 percent to $47.3 billion on the 2018 Forbes India Rich List. He has also retained the No 1 rank over the past decade. In fact, he has managed to widen the lead between him and the others on the list. In 2017, the gap between No 1 and No 2 was $19 billion. In 2018, it is $26.3 billion.

A year and a half after Jio began charging for mobile services, it has become the third-largest provider, with 252.3 million subscribers. It has a 72 percent share for 4G data and had an Ebidta of ₹3,573 crore. Jio, with its superior data offering, is on track to capture a majority of the profit pie as Ambani muscles his way into India’s broadband market with the recent acquisition of Den Networks and Hathway Cable.

Ambani’s most understated success has been with retail. He is the country’s largest retailer by revenue, present in 5,800 cities and boasting 50 million customers. Revenue rose by 121 percent to ₹32,436 crore in the quarter ended September 2018.