Anil Ambani Net Worth 2024: Reliance’s Rollercoaster Made Him Bankrupt

Many in the business world are familiar with Mukesh Ambani, India’s wealthiest man. However, few know that his brother, Anil Ambani, was once the richest billionaire in India, even overtaking Mukesh in wealth. Currently, he is said to be bankrupt, though this claim is not verified, and many think Anil Ambani remains quite wealthy.

As of 2024, Anil Ambani’s net worth is estimated at $0.

Anil Ambani is the main owner, chairman, and managing director of Reliance Group. He operates a distinct empire from his brother, concentrating on defense, financial services, media, and infrastructure. The Reliance Group was formed after a conflict between the two brothers and a split from the family business Reliance Industries Limited.

While Ambani has encountered numerous setbacks and challenges over the years and even declared bankruptcy before a UK court in 2020, he is still leading his business, making people wonder if he is really broke.

To learn how his story progressed over the years, keep reading our post below.

7 Fun Facts About Anil Ambani

1. Former Billionaire: Once one of the richest men in the world, with a peak net worth of $42 billion in 2008.
2. Brother of Mukesh Ambani: Anil and Mukesh Ambani famously split their father’s business empire after a family feud.
3. Hollywood Connection: Entered a $1.2 billion joint venture with Steven Spielberg’s DreamWorks in 2008.
4. Failed IPO: His company Reliance Communications suffered one of the biggest financial collapses in Indian history.
5. Court Battles: Faced legal battles with Chinese banks, leading to a UK court ordering him to pay $716 million.
6. Bailed Out by Brother: Mukesh Ambani once bailed him out of jail by paying a $77 million debt in 2019.
7. Residency: Lives in a mansion worth $600 million on Pali Hill, Mumbai, despite his financial troubles.

Anil Ambani’s Net Worth: Full Breakdown

If you research Anil Ambani’s and his current wealth, you will find that many sources still list him as a billionaire but most are outdated.

In truth, he hasn’t publicly revealed that he sold any of his most valuable possessions, such as his luxurious home worth over $600 million.

However, he also hasn’t revealed what debts he still has to pay, so it’s safe to say that his net worth is closer to $0. Here’s how it breaks down.

Anil Ambani Early Life and Education

Anil Dhirubhai Ambani was born on June 4, 1959, in Bombay (now Mumbai), India.

He is the youngest son of Dhirubhai Ambani, the wealthy founder of Reliance Industries, and his wife, Kokilaben Ambani. Ambani’s mother Kokilaben founded the Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital in Mumbai.

Dhirubhai Ambani was reportedly a strict father who taught his four children discipline.

At one point, Ambani shared that the father rewarded his sons with a box of mangoes if they completed a 10-km run, and punished them when they acted out in front of guests. Anil Ambani also has two sisters, Nina Kothari and Deepti Salgaocar.

Anil Ambani earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the Kishinchand Chellaram College at the University of Bombay, followed by an MBA degree from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Unlike his brother Mukesh Ambani who dropped out of his MBA program at Stanford Business School, Anil Ambani successfully obtained both degrees.

Anil Ambani’s Personal Life

Anil Ambani married Tina Ambani despite much resistance from his family. His wife, Tina Munim Ambani, comes from the world of fashion, and Ambani’s parents didn’t support his marriage at first. Nevertheless, the couple got married and has two sons together, Jai Anmol Ambani and Jai Anshul Ambani.

Anil Ambani Net Worth: From Wealth to Bankruptcy to Billionaire Status Again

Anil Ambani was raised in wealth, being the son of a legendary business tycoon.

Following his father’s stroke in 1986, young Anil Ambani took on the day-to-day management of the financial relationships of the family business. He subsequently assumed joint leadership of the business along with his elder brother after his father passed in 2002.

However, his life hasn’t been one without challenges. As we mentioned, at one point, Anil Ambani’s wealth status dropped from a net worth of 42 billion to zero. Let’s take a look at how this happened.

The Death of Ambani’s Father

The Ambani father Dhirubhai passed away in 2002 without a clear succession plan, which led to a family dispute arising between the two brothers. The bickering turned into a years-long battle between the two and, as a result, their mother, Kokilaben, decided to divide the family business between Mukesh and Anil.

In 2005, the differences over control of the Reliance companies led to a split with Mukesh Ambani gaining control of the petrochemicals and flagship oil businesses, and Anil Ambani gaining control of telecommunications, financial services, and power generation services.

While Mukesh Ambani retailed control over the more traditional, core enterprises, his brother got the newer services of the Reliance conglomerate, including India’s largest IPO, Reliance Power.

Anil Ambani Net Worth: Becoming One of the World’s Richest People

By 2008, Anil Ambani’s wealth propelled him to the status of the sixth richest person in the world with a net worth of 42 billion dollars.

But how did he achieve such success?

In July 2006, Anil Ambani founded the Reliance Group following the demerger. This business included the corporations over which Anil gained control during the split:

• Reliance Communications
• Reliance Infrastructure
• Reliance Power
• Reliance Capital

In 2005, following the company split, Ambani acquired a majority stake in Adlabs Films, therefore expanding Reliance to the entertainment industry.

Adlabs Films was later renamed Reliance MediaWorks and had interests in film production, processing, and digital cinema.

In 2008, Ambani entered a joint venture worth $1.2 billion with DreamWorks, Steven Spielberg’s production company, propelling his entertainment business onto a global platform. In the following years, he has contributed to the production of several films directed by Spielberg, including Lincoln, an Academy Award-winning movie.

Anil Ambani Net Worth: The Road to Bankruptcy

Despite the major successes at the beginning, Anil Ambani’s journey suffered multiple massive setbacks.

For starters, the Allahabad High Court decided to quash land acquisition for a Dadri proposed power project in 2009, marking a significant setback for Ambani’s company. And, while his foray into the entertainment industry had a promising start, it didn’t exactly yield the expected results.

Since the formation of the Reliance ADA Group, the combined group market cap declined by 90% under Ambani’s leadership, making him one of the fastest destroyers of shareholder wealth in the century.

Not only did this crash his wealth and strip him of his billionaire status, but Ambani’s troubles were yet to come.

Ambani’s businesses, especially Reliance Communications, faced financial problems, which led to it undergoing debt restructuring and making asset sales.

In early 2019, the Indian Supreme Court in Mumbai held Ambani in criminal contempt for not paying the personally guaranteed debt of Reliance Communications to Ericsson, the Swedish gear maker. The company was sent to insolvency proceedings to repay debt. He wasn’t given jail time, but the court gave him a single month to come up with the funds he owed.

By the end of the month, and despite their previous fights, Mukesh Ambani bailed his brother out and helped him avoid jail.

That wasn’t the end of Ambani’s problems, though.

In February 2020, Anil Ambani was locked in yet another legal battle, this time with three Chinese banks. The court asked him to set aside $100 million, but Ambani shared at this point that his net worth has reached zero.

The dispute is still ongoing with the UK court in February ordering him to pay $716 million to the three Chinese banks.

According to data provided by Reliance Capital Limited, Anil’s Reliance Communications had an outstanding debt of INR 20,379 crore by the end of 2020.

Following this very public battle and their father’s inability to repay debt, Ambani’s sons Jai Anmol and Jai Anshul Ambani took a more active role in the family business in an attempt to rebuild it and fix Reliance’s financial relationships. Ambani remains the chairman, CEO, and managing director of the company, with his wife, Tina Ambani, in the role of non-executive director.

Reliance Group still exists to this day, but for the most part, Anil Ambani has been selling the companies in the conglomerate. In 2022, for instance, an Indian court-appointed administrator was preparing Reliance Capital for a fire sale in the wake of Ambani’s debts of $3.54 billion.

Anil Ambani’s Awards and Accolades

Even though his wealth is non-existent or at the very best, insignificant today compared to a few years back, Anil Ambani’s journey is quite impressive. As a successful businessman, he has received numerous awards and accolades throughout the years, including:

• 1998: “Businessman of the Year 1997” awarded by Business India
• 2001: First Wharton Indian Alumni School Award, given by the Wharton India Economic Forum
• 2002: “The Entrepreneur of the Decade” award, given by the Bombay Management Association
• 2004: “CEO of the Year 2004” at the Platts Global Energy Awards
• 2006: “Businessman of the Year”, voted in a poll conducted by The Time of India
• 2006: “Best Role Model” among business leaders, voted in a poll conducted by India Today magazine

Anil Ambani Net Worth: Other Assets and Investments

Before his financial struggles and at a time when Anil Ambani was one of the world’s richest people, he lived a rather private, yet lavish life. These days, most of his assets, if not all, are probably sold.

Let’s take a look at how he spent his money in the past.

Assets

Anil Ambani still lives with his mother, wife, and children in Abode, his dream house which he built at a time when he was extremely wealthy. The residence is situated on Pali Hill and is worth around $600 million. However, we do not know if he will keep this property seeing how he declared bankruptcy a few years back.

As for his other assets, at one point, the business tycoon owned numerous high-end vehicles, including a Rolls Royce Phantom worth over $410,000, a Porsche, a Lexus XUV, and a Mercedes GLK350. He also owned a private jet, a Bombardier Global Express XRS worth around $37 million.

There is no confirmation that he owns any of these assets as of today and, seeing how he declared bankruptcy, we can only assume that he sold them.

What Can We Learn from Anil Ambani’s Story?

Anil Ambani’s story is a testament to the unpredictability and volatility of wealth, especially in the high-stakes world of business. We can draw several lessons from his journey.

Ambani’s rapid rise and subsequent fall in wealth illustrate how quickly one’s fortunes can change.

He went from being one of the richest people in the world to declaring bankruptcy in a matter of years, teaching us how detrimental bad moves and decisions can be for a person’s future.

Furthermore, the battle with his brother Mukesh Ambani over the family business significantly affected both their professional careers and personal lives.

The split of Reliance Industries into separate entities for the brothers played a crucial role in shaping their futures.

Interestingly, while both of them were given an equal, massive part of the business and an opportunity to grow, only one of them managed to turn this into an even bigger success.

This teaches us that one’s decisions and management strategies are the key to success – or failure. The results can go both ways even when two people are given the same opportunities, means, and upbringing in life.

While diversification is often seen as a prudent business strategy in the world, Anil Ambani’s forays into various sectors did not always yield the expected results. The performance of his new ventures contributed significantly to his financial decline.

Finally, Anil Ambani’s troubles with debt, including the significant liabilities of his businesses, highlight the importance of managing debt effectively.