DHIRAJLAL HIRACHAND AMBANI

INDEX

I. THE STARTING

II. THE LEADER

III. STRATEGY AND VISIONa. DHIRUBHAISM(1-5)

IV. CHALLENGES AND DIFFICULTIES

a. TUSSLE WITH NUSLI WADIA

b. THE INDIAN EXPRESS ARTICLES

c. DHIRUBHAI AND V.P.SINGH

V. CONTRIBUTIONS

a. COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

b. HEALTHCARE INITIATIVES

c. EDUCATIONAL INITIATIVES

VI. AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS

THE STARTINGFew men in history have made as dramatic a contribution to their country’s economic fortunes as did the founder of Reliance, Sh. Dhirubhai H Ambani. Fewer still have left behind a legacy that is more enduring and timeless.

As with all great pioneers, there is more than one unique way of describing the true genius of Dhirubhai: The corporate visionary, the unmatched strategist, the proud patriot, the leader of men, the architect of India’s capital markets, the champion of shareholder interest.

The second son of a school teacher, Dhirubhai was born in 1932 in the village of Chorwad in Gujarat in circumstances that can best be described as modest. Driven by hardship and want, he had to drop out of school early.

In 1949, at the age of 17, he went to Aden (now Yemen) in search of opportunity, and worked as a dispatch clerk for A. Besse & Co. A couple of years later, the company became a distributor for Shell products and Dhirubhai was promoted to manage the company’s oil-filling station at the port of Aden. It was here that he dreamed of setting up and owning a refinery, which he later realised with his petrochemicals venture.

In 1962, Dhirubhai returned to India and started the Reliance Commercial Corporation with a capital of Rs.15,000.00. The primary business of Reliance Commercial Corporation was to import polyester yarn and export spices.

The business was setup in partnership with Champaklal Damani, his second cousin, who used to be with him in Aden, Yemen. The first office of the Reliance Commercial Corporation was set up at the Narsinathan Street in Masjid Bunder. It was a 350 Sq. Ft. room with a telephone, one table and three chairs. Initially, they had two assistants to help them with their business. In 1965, Champaklal Damani and Dhirubhai Ambani ended their partnership and Dhirubhai started on his own. It is believed that both had different temperaments and a different take on how to conduct business. While Mr. Damani was a cautious trader and did not believe in building yarn inventories, Dhirubhai was a known risk taker and he considered that building inventories, anticipating a price rise, and making profits through that was good for growth.

During this period, Dhirubhai and his family used to stay in one bedroom apartment at the Jaihind Estate in Bhuleshwar, Mumbai. In 1968, he moved to an upmarket apartment at Altamount Road in South Mumbai. Ambani's net worth was estimated at about Rs.1 million by late 1960s.

Sensing a good opportunity in the textile business, Dhirubhai started his first textile mill at Naroda, in Ahmedabad in the year 1966. Textiles were manufactured using polyester fibre yarn. Dhirubhai started the brand "Vimal", which was named after his elder brother Ramaniklal Ambani's son, Vimal Ambani. Extensive marketing of the brand "Vimal" in the interiors of India made it a household name. Franchise retail outlets were started and they used to sell "only Vimal" brand of textiles. In the year 1975, a Technical team from the World Bank visited the Reliance Textiles' Manufacturing unit. This unit has the rare distinction of being certified as "excellent even by developed country standards" during that period.

Dhirubhai Ambani is credited with starting the equity cult in India. More than 58,000 investors from various parts of India subscribed to Reliance's IPO in 1977

Over time, Dhirubhai diversified his business with the core specialisation being in petrochemicals and additional interests in telecommunications, information technology, energy, power, retail, textiles, infrastructure services, capital markets, and logistics. The company as a whole was described by the BBC as "a business empire with an estimated annual turnover of $12bn, and an 85,000-strong workforce".

THE LEADERWhat do you call a man who hates to lose? A winner? That is too easy, too glib, and buries the story. All Dhirajlal Hirachand Ambani ever wanted to be is the biggest there ever is, the best there ever was. He wanted a piece of the action — preferably all of it. If others wouldn’t let him in, he would create his own turf and own it all.

Ambani is actually a businessman, but his career is so extraordinary that he is more than just a businessman, more than even an industrialist.He is a folk hero to millions of Indians, even those who are not businessmen, or do not aspire to a business career.And that is why Dhirubhai Ambani is so special, just as Mahatma Gandhi was something more than a politician and Indira Gandhi was more than a prime minister.

These people are not born every day. I rank Dhirubhai along with the Gandhis, because all of them moved the entire country in a certain direction. Without the Mahatma, we would still be under the British. Without Indira, the country would have been torn apart into quasi independent fiefdoms, the kind we had before the Britishers arrived here. And without Dhirubhai, we would not have learnt how to think big, not in terms of a small factory here and there, but in terms of giant plants, as big as anywhere in the world and as modern as they come. Dhirubhai taught India to think big, because, as he used to say, ours is a big country and if we do not think big, we shall never be able to attain our potential.

It is not easy to think big in India. We are so worried about the next meal that there is no time for anything else. For the last thousand years we have not thought big at all, though the Marathas under Shivaji did try. We can think only of the next meal, the next pay cheque, the next job, the next election. We can never think of the day after tomorrow, let alone the year after tomorrow, or the generation after the next. We are so poor that everything tends to be short-term, small and trifling, and almost always temporary and short-lived.

As a yarn merchant, he used to go from one dealer to another and also to purchase agents of the big textile companies in Mumbai, most of whom have now shut up shop or gone bankrupt. Ambani still remembers them and calls them his sheths. But how is it that Dhirubhai went on to chemicals from textiles, and from there to petrochemicals and then to oil exploration?

Ambani rarely talked about money, though that was supposed to be his forte. He was known in the market as a financial wizard. He raised Rs.7,500 crore in all for his business, huge amount even for a man like Ambani.

Tatas took nearly a hundred years to achieve what they did. Dhirubhai, twice as big, took just about 40 years to do what he has done. The Ambanis are now nearly twice as big as Tatas and growing also at twice their rate. Where did Dhirubhai learn to think big? He did not learn anything from his business contemporaries because there was nothing to learn. I think he was born thinking big. It was second nature to him, otherwise how could a man in a 10 ft by 10 ft office hawking yarn end up as the owner of a huge petrochemical plant and an equally huge oil refinery? He was a restless soul who simply had to do what he did, because that was his

compulsion. Everything else came afterwards, as it does when you know what you are going to do, though not how you are going to do it.If the first half of the 20th century belonged to Tatas, the second half belonged to Dhirubhai Ambani and if he lives long enough, the first half of the 21st century will also belong to him. Dhirubhai Ambani is indeed a man of two centuries!

If you take a piece of ordinary glass, hold it over some shredded paper and let sunlight shine through, all you will have is a bright pile of paper. But if you take a magnifying glass and focus the same sunlight on the paper, you can start a fire.

Winners focus, mastering the ability to accomplish. And Shri Dhirubhai was the master of masts.

This is the first lesson we learn from him: be focussed on whatever you plan to do till you achieve it. He had the same missionary zeal, the same focus in him, right from Reliance’s first public issue till the time he built the mammoth Jamnagar refinery. He was always open-minded. He was hungry for new ideas and never discounted any idea or person. Even years before his death he looked for new ideas for marketing in this new information age.

This was the second lesson we learn from him: always be open-minded, because when you have an open mind you assimilate more, become solution-oriented and make more progress in life.

He always taught us that nothing is impossible in this world. Once you conceive an idea and back it up with strong belief, you can definitely succeed. ‘Unrealistic goals’ was a term missing from his dictionary. Right from textiles to refinery to drilling for oil, he found nothing impossible.

"I am deaf to the word "no"”

In the seventies, his textile unit got recognition as one of the world’s most modern textile mills, matching or even surpassing developed nations’ stringent standards. When the textile industry was passing through adverse times, he developed yarn-processing and went on to become a giant in the global synthetic textiles industry.

He repeated the performance in petrochemicals, too.

We learn yet another lesson from him: always look for ways to convert a crisis into an opportunity and think ahead of time. He was enthusiastic, bubbling with excitement, eager for something new to do. He exuded optimism and was a source of positive energy .

He believed enthusiasm is the fuel of life, it helps you to get where you’re going. That was the fourth lesson we learn from him. He was a big dreamer. He always believed that he was worthy of his dream. He said you will become the person you believe yourself to be. He ceaselessly inspired us to think big and make our dream the purpose of life.

When you are propped up by strong self-belief and single-minded determination to chase and achieve your dream, you become absolutely unstoppable, was his mantra. This was the best lesson we learn from him.

STRATEGY AND VISIONDhirubhai Ambani was no ordinary leader. He was a man who gave management a whole new “ism”.There is a new “ism” that I’ve been meaning to add to the vast world of words for quite a while now. Because, without exaggeration, it’s a word for which no synonym can do full justice: “Dhirubhaism”.

Dhirubhaism No 1: The silent benefactor. This was another of his remarkable traits. When he helped someone, he never ever breathed a word about it to anyone else. There have been none among us who haven’t known his kindness, yet he never went around broadcasting it.

He never used charity as a platform to gain publicity. Sometimes, he would even go to the extent of not letting the recipient know who the donor was. Such was the extent of his generosity. “Expect the unexpected” just might have been coined for him.

Dhirubhaism No 2: Dream big but dream with your eyes open. His phenomenal achievement showed India that limitations were only in the mind. And that nothing was truly unattainable for those who dreamed big.

Whenever I tried to point out to him that a task seemed too big to be accomplished, he would reply: ” No is no answer!” Not only did he dream big, he taught all of us to do so too.

Dhirubhai was indeed a man of many parts, as is evident. I am sure there are many people who display some of the traits mentioned above, in their working styles as well, but Dhirubhai was one of those rare people who demonstrated all of them, all the time.

And that’s what made him such a phenomenal team builder and achiever. Yes, we all need “Dhirubhaisms” in our lives to remind us that if it was possible for one person to be all this and more, we too can. And like him, go on to achieve the impossible too.

Dhirubhaism No 3: Change your orbit, constantly!

To understand this statement, let me explain Dhirubhai’s “orbit theory.”He would often explain that we are all born into an orbit. It is up to us to progress to the next. We could choose to live and die in the orbit that we are born in. But that would be a criminal waste of potential. When we push ourselves into the next orbit, we benefit not only ourselves but everyone connected with us.

However, when you change orbits, you will create friction. The good news is that your enemies from your previous orbit will never be able to reach you in your new one. By the time resentment builds up in your new orbit, you should move to the next level. And so on. Changing orbits is the key to our progress as a nation.

Dhirubhaism No 4: ideas are no one’s monopoly--Shri Dhirubhai Ambani was not just firmly rooted in traditional Indian values, but was also the quintessentially modern man, the man of the new millennium. This was clearly reflected in his passion for mega-sized projects, the most advanced technology and the highest level of productivity. The corporate philosophy he followed was short, simple and succinct - "Think big. Think differently. Think fast. Think ahead. Aim for the best".He inspired the Reliance team to do better than the best - not only in India but in the world.

Dhirubhaism 5: For him, his people were his most important asset. He scouted around for the best and most talented professionals, nurtured them and continuously propelled them to aim for still higher goals. These highly motivated people comprise the core of what he named: "The Reliance Family".

Shri Dhirubhai Ambani visualised the growth of Reliance as an integral part of his grand vision for India. He was convinced that India could become an economic superpower within a short period of time and wanted Reliance to play an important role in realising this goal.

The Bhagavad Gita states, "The actions of a great man are an inspiration for others. Whatever he does, becomes a standard for others to follow." This certainly applies to Shri Dhirubhai Ambani.

CHALLENGES AND DIFFICULTIES

A diamond is merely a lump of coal that did well under extreme pressure.So imagine how brilliant a human being can be by sustainin pressures of life.Life’s challenges are not supposed to paralyze you, they’re supposed tounleash your inner strength & help you discover who you are.

In 1982, Reliance Industries came up against a rights issue regarding partly convertible debentures. It was rumored that company was making all efforts to ensure that their stock prices did not slide an inch. Sensing an opportunity, a bear cartel which was a group of stock brokers from Calcutta started to short sell the shares of Reliance. To counter this, a group of stock brokers till recently referred to as "Friends of Reliance" started to buy the short sold shares of Reliance Industries on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

The Bear Cartel was acting on the belief that the Bulls would be short of cash to complete the transactions and would be ready for settlement under the "Badla" trading system prevalent in Bombay Stock Exchange during those days. The bulls kept on buying and a price of Rs. 152 per share was maintained till the day of settlement. On the day of settlement, the Bear Cartel was taken aback when the Bulls demanded a physical delivery of shares. To complete the transaction, the much needed cash was provided to the stock brokers who had bought shares of Reliance, by none other than Dhirubhai Ambani. In the case of non-settlement, the Bulls demanded an "Unbadla" (a penalty sum) of Rs. 35 per share. With this, the demand increased and the shares of Reliance shot above 180 rupees in minutes. The settlement caused an enormous uproar in the market and Dhirubhai Ambani was the unquestioned king of the stock markets. He proved to his detractors just how dangerous it was to play with Reliance.

The situation was getting completely out of control. To find a solution to this situation, the Bombay Stock Exchange was closed for three business days. Authorities from the Bombay Stock Exchange intervened in the matter and brought down the "Unbadla" rate to Rs. 2 with a stipulation that the Bear Cartel had to deliver the shares within the next few days. The Bear Cartel bought shares of Reliance from the market at higher price levels and it was also learnt that Dhirubhai Ambani himself supplied those shares to the Bear Cartel and earned a healthy profit out of The Bear Cartel's adventure.

After this incident, many questions were raised by his detractors and the press. Not many people were able to understand as to how a yarn trader till a few years ago was able to get in such a huge amount of cash flow during a crisis period. The answer to this was provided by the then finance minister, Pranab Mukherjee in the parliament. He informed the house that a

Non-Resident Indian had invested up to Rs. 220 Million in Reliance during 1982-83. These investments were routed through many companies like Crocodile, Lota and Fiasco. These companies were primarily registered in Isle of Man. The interesting factor was that all the promoters or owners of these companies had a common surname Shah. An investigation by the Reserve Bank of India in the incident did not find any unethical or illegal acts or transactions committed by Reliance or its promoters.

Despite his almost Midas Touch, Ambani has been known to have flexible values and an unethical streak running through him. His biographer himself has cited some instances of his unethical behavior when he was just an ordinary employee at a petrol pump in Dubai. He has been accused of having manipulated government policies to suit his own needs, and has been known to be a king-maker in government elections . Although most media sources tend to speak out about business-politics nexus, the Ambani house has always enjoyed more protection and shelter from the media storms that sweep across the country.

Tussle with Nusli Wadia

Nusli Wadia of Bombay Dyeing was, at one point in time, the biggest competitor of Dhirubhai and Reliance Industries. Both Nusli Wadia and Dhirubhai were known for their influence in the political circles and their ability to get the most difficult licenses approved during the times of pre-liberalized economy.

During the Janata Party rule between 1977 - 1979, Nusli Wadia obtained the permission to build a 60,000 tonnes per annum Di-methyl terephthalate (DMT) plant. Before the letter of intent was converted into a licence, many hurdles came in the way. Finally, in 1981, Nusli Wadia was granted the license for the plant. This incident acted as a catalyst between the two parties and the competition took an ugly turn.

The Indian Express Articles

At one point in time, Ramnath Goenka was a friend of Dhirubhai Ambani. Ramnath Goenka was also considered to be close to Nusli Wadia. On many occasions, Ramnath Goenka tried to intervene between the two warring factions and bring an end to the enmity. Goenka and Ambani became rivals mainly because Ambani's corrupt business practices and his illegal actions that lead to Goenka not getting a fair share in the company. Later on, Ramnath Goenka chose to support Nusli Wadia. At one point of time, Ramnath Goenka is believed to have said "Nusli is an Englishman. He cannot handle Ambani. I am a bania. I know how to finish him"....

Ramnath Goenka, the patriarch of The Indian Express Group. This file photograph of Mr. Goenka was taken in his penthouse at the Express Towers, Nariman Point, Bombay

Ramnath Goenka, the patriarch of The Indian Express Group. This file photograph of Mr. Goenka was taken in his penthouse at the Express Towers, Nariman Point, Bombay

As days passed by, The Indian Express, a broadsheet daily published by him, carried a series of articles against Reliance Industries and Dhirubhai in which they claimed that Dhirubhai was using unfair trade practices to maximise the profits. Ramnath Goenka did not use his staff at the Indian Express to investigate the case but assigned his close confidante, advisor and chartered accountant S. Gurumurthy for this task. Apart from S. Gurumurthy, another journalist Maneck Davar who was not on the rolls of Indian Express started contributing stories. Jamnadas Moorjani, a businessman opposed to the Ambanis was also a part of this campaign.Both Ambani and Goenka were equally criticized and admired by sections of the society. People criticized Goenka that he was using a national newspaper for the cause of a personal enmity. Critics believed that there were many other businessman in the country who were using more unfair and unethical practices but Goenka chose to target only Ambani and not the others. Critics also admired Goenka for his ability to run these articles without any help from his regular staff. Dhirubhai Ambani was also getting more recognition and admiration, in the meantime. A section of the public started to appreciate Dhirubhai's business sense and his ability to tame the system according to his wishes.

The end to this tussle came only after Dhirubhai Ambani suffered a stroke. While Dhirubhai Ambani was recovering in San Diego, his sons Mukesh Ambani and Anil Ambani managed the affairs. The Indian Express had turned the guns against Reliance and was directly blaming the government for not doing enough to penalize Reliance Industries. The battle between Wadia - Goenka and the Ambanis took a new direction and became a national crisis. Gurumurthy and another journalist, Mulgaokar consorted with President Giani Zail Singh and ghost-wrote a hostile letter to the Prime Minister on his behalf. The Indian Express published a draft of the President’s letter as a scoop, not realizing that Zail Singh had made changes to the letter before sending it to Rajiv Gandhi. Ambani had won the battle at this point. Now, while the tussle was directly between the Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and Ramnath Goenka, Ambani made a quiet exit. The government then raided the Express guest house in Delhi’s Sunder Nagar and found the original draft with corrections in Mulgaokar’s handwriting. By 1988-89, Rajiv’s government retaliated with a series of prosecutions against the Indian Express. Even then, Goenka retained his iconic stature because, to many people, he seemed to be replaying his heroic defiance during the Emergency regime.

Dhirubhai and V.P.Singh

It was widely known that Dhirubhai didn't enjoy a cordial relation with Vishwanath Pratap Singh, who succeeded Rajiv Gandhi as the Prime Minister of India. In May 1985, he suddenly removed the import of Purified Terephthalic Acid from the Open General License category. As a raw material this was very important to manufacture polyester filament yarn. This made it very difficult for Reliance to carry on operations. Reliance was able to secure, from various financial institutions, letters of credit that would allow it to import almost one full year’s requirement of PTA on the eve of the issuance of the government notification, changing the category under which PTA could be imported. In 1990, the government-owned financial institutions like the Life Insurance Corporation of India and the General Insurance Corporation stonewalled attempts by the Reliance group to acquire managerial control over Larsen & Toubro. Sensing defeat, the Ambanis resigned from the board of the company. Dhirubhai, who had become L&T's chairman in April 1989, had to quit his post to make way for D. N. Ghosh, former chairman of the State Bank of India.

Contributions---He is a true philanthropist, not a preacher or a reformer. His corporate philosophy and brand of management were initially ridiculed by his competitors. Dhirubhai saw beyond the banks and financial institutions to the real source of funds_the retail investor. Thus, his corporate objectives were simple: better company results and benefits for his shareholders.

Dhirubhai Ambani is credited with shaping India's equity culture, attracting millions of retail investors in a market till then dominated by financial institutions. Dhirubhai revolutionised capital markets. From nothing, he generated billions of rupees in wealth for those who put their trust in his companies. His efforts helped create an 'equity cult' in the Indian capital market. With innovative instruments like the convertible debenture, Reliance quickly became a favorite of the stock market in the 1980s.

In 1992, Reliance became the first Indian company to raise money in global markets, its high credit-taking in international markets limited only by India's sovereign rating. Reliance also became the first Indian company to feature in Forbes 500 list.

Dhirubhai Ambani was named the Indian Entrepreneur of the 20th Century by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). A poll conducted by The Times of India in 2000 voted him "greatest creator of wealth in the century".

The world, they say, steps aside

for the man who knows

where he is going

Community Development

Reliance runs its own schools at its manufacturing sites, which provide high quality education to the children of employees, and also to the children living in nearby areas. These schools are all equipped with modern amenities like well-stocked libraries, computers, laboratories, sports facilities and playgrounds. Transportation facility is provided to all students, thus enabling those living in nearby villages to attend school every day.

Some of the important initiatives launched by Reliance include:

Reliance, in association with the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai, launched the Secondary Schools Computerisation Project to facilitate computer education for 51 municipal secondary schools of Mumbai. The project covers about 68,000 students studying from fifth to tenth standard. Computer laboratories are being created in each of these schools. Each computer lab will have 15 multimedia computers connected on a network. The lab will also be equipped with a printer, scanner, software applications and educational multimedia content for various syllabus subjects, including Maths and Science.

The project aims to benefit not only the students, but also the teachers and their schools. While the students will gain the skills needed to be productive and successful citizens in the new knowledge era, the teachers will benefit by learning new skills that will further their professional development. The schools will benefit by acquiring the resource, skills and self-sufficiency to carry this project forward on their own.

Jamnagar town faces acute drinking water shortages. In order to mitigate the problems of people, Reliance supplies drinking water from its state-of-the-art seawater desalination plant during summer periods of shortages. Drinking water was supplied for the third successive year in the summer of 2002.

Dwarka, a religious destination near Jamnagar, has been a centre of attraction not only for pilgrims of the country but also for archaeologists, historians and tourists from all over the world. Reliance took up much-needed renovation and overall development work in Dwarka by joining hands with various organisations/ offices of the Government of Gujarat.

The DAF has recently established a sanatorium at Chorwad, Gujarat, for the use of patients needing change of climate and recuperation.

Reliance also carried out community services work in villages adjoining its Jamnagar and Hazira complexes, to improve the quality of life of the people. Some of the activities at Jamnagar included supply of fodder; organisation of blood donation camps, regular health check-up camps and mobile dispensary services; reconstruction of temples and assistance to several voluntary organisations to carry out cultural and social festivals / functions, etc.

The community services carried out at Hazira included donations to the Surat Municipal Corporation and District Collectorate for e-governance programmes, awards to motivate meritorious students, donations of computers and library books to various schools, donations of tricycles to handicapped students, organisation of inter-village / inter-school sports and cultural competitions, mobile health van services, organisation of health camps and initiatives to provide self-employment opportunities for women.

DAF and Sampradaan - the Indian Centre for Philanthropy, organised the second national conference of Charitable Foundations in India. The objective was to network charitable foundations for professional exchange of views, experiences and to explore ways for collaboration. The conference on the theme "Promoting Good Governance: Internal and External" was well-attended by about 35 NGOs from all over India.

A platform to display the art and craft produced by underprivileged children from Aseema (an NGO devoted to their welfare) was provided along with the annual Harmony Exhibition organised by the textile division of Reliance Industries Limited.

Healthcare Initiatives

Sir Hurkisondas Nurrotumdas Hospital and Research Centre (HNH&RC), Mumbai

The DAF has joined the management of Sir Hurkisondas Nurottumdas Hospital and Research Centre (HNH&RC) and Sir Hurkisondas Nurottumdas Medical Research Society (HNMRS),

based in Mumbai. HNH&RC is one of the oldest hospitals in the city, having been established in 1925. HNMRS is a 28-year-old institution involved in clinical research.

Over the next few years, DAF plans to make substantial contributions for converting this hospital into a patient-focused and not-for-profit, world class, state-of-the-art centre of excellence in the field of healthcare. This institution will serve as a knowledge domain for healthcare activities and become a hub for a wider healthcare network. It is also proposed to make this a centre of excellence for clinical research and medical education.

HNH&RC currently offers tertiary level healthcare facilities including super-specialties like cardiology, cardio-thoracic surgery, neurology and neuro-surgery, oncology, urology, nephrology and gastroenterology. It has on board 200 consultants across various specialisations. The total staff strength is about 1,000, including paramedical and other support staff. HNH&RC also provides free and subsidised outpatient and inpatient treatment for the poor.

HNH&RC is recognised for its post-graduate program, leading to post-graduate diplomas in various specialties awarded by the College of Physicians & Surgeons, Mumbai and the National Board of Examinations, New Delhi. HNH&RC is also recognised by Mumbai University for its M.Sc. and Ph.D. in biochemistry, applied biology, and microbiology. The hospital also runs a nursing school.

Since its inception, HNMRS has completed 100 clinical / scientific research projects, including many multi-disciplinary ones. Over 150 research papers have also been presented at various national and international conferences based on its research projects. These research projects are selected carefully with an aim to undertake community-based studies that are relevant to society.

Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital, Lodhivali, District Raigad

This 82-bed state-of-the-art hospital caters to an industrial and rural population in the Raigad district of Maharashtra. It provides for free outpatient and subsidised inpatient treatment for the needy and poor patients as well as for senior citizens. It also provides free treatment to trauma victims of highway accidents. The hospital, the only such comprehensive health care institution in the region, has been in existence for about four years and has proved its worth by saving numerous lives of victims of vehicular and industrial accidents.

Educational Initiatives

Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information and Communication Technology (DA-IICT)

The Dhirubhai Ambani Foundation (DAF) has established the Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information and Communication Technology (DA-IICT) at Gandhinagar in the western Indian state of Gujarat.

The institute was flagged off in August 2001, when 246 students were admitted through an all-India entrance exam for a four-year undergraduate programme in Information and Communication Technology. Postgraduate programmes were added from academic year 2002-03 onwards. In the coming years, the institute will also offer a wide range of training

and research programmes and continuing education programmes for working executives as well as practicing professionals.

A number of new facilities have been created including additional floors for teaching, research laboratories, lecture theatres, a sports complex, a cultural centre and food courts. Hostel accommodation for students is being created on the campus. The Resource Centre (Library) is also under construction.

Truly, men like Shri Dhirubhai Ambani are rare. They come gifted with the power and the vision to change the destiny of nations, to alter the course of corporate history. They are the empire builders, the stuff that legends are made of. The legend called Shri Dhirubhai Ambani will never die.His spirit will live on forever.

Awards and recognitions November 2000 – Conferred 'Man of the Century' award by Chemtech Foundation

and Chemical Engineering World in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the growth and development of the chemical industry in India

2000, 1998 and 1996 – Featured among 'Power 50 - the most powerful people in Asia by Asiaweek magazine.

June 1998 - Dean's Medal by The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, for setting an outstanding example of leadership. Dhirubhai Ambani has the rare distinction of being the first Indian to get Wharton School Dean's Medal [18]

August 2001 – The Economic Times Award for Corporate Excellence for Lifetime Achievement

Dhirubhai Ambani was named the Man of 20th Century by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).

A poll conducted by The Times of India in 2000 voted Him "Greatest Creator of Wealth In The Centuries". He is the true son of India'