Ambani household staff once received Reliance shares: ‘Now, new staff asks me why they cannot…’

In 1932, a man was born in a small village in Gujarat who would go on to change the face of Indian business. Dhirubhai Ambani — it can be said without exaggeration — was one of the most influential entrepreneurs India has ever produced.The late Dhirubhai Ambani, founder of Reliance, with his wife Kokilaben AmbaniBorn in Chorwad, in the Junagadh drict of present-day Gujarat, this son of a schoolteacher would go on to become the founder of Reliance Industries.About RelianceDhirubhai Ambani founded Reliance Commercial Corporation in Mumbai in 1958, initially trading in spices and polyester yarn. In 1977, Reliance went public, inviting ordinary Indians to become shareholders at a time when equity investing was largely confined to the elite.In her book ‘Dhirubhai Ambani: The Man I Knew’, his wife Kokilaben remembered how her husband, the late Dhirubhai Ambani, was so confident of Reliance’s success that he encouraged their domestic servants to invest in the company.Reliance shares given to staffersDhirubhai, she said, asked staff members to invest ₹5,000 in Reliance. In fact, he even lent them money so they could buy into the company.“Nobody was too small to invest in Reliance,” Kokilaben reminisced in her memoir.“He would even ask our bewildered domestic servants to buy into the company. He would say, ‘Kokila! Give them shares!’“He would then lend them Rs. 5000 each and invest it for them in Reliance,” she said.Dhirubhai’s legacy to staffersKokilaben recalled that the old family retainer, Surabhai, was assured that his investment would turn from ₹5,000 to ₹50,000.Surabhai had been the gardener of the Ambani family’s home in Chorwad. A longtime and loyal staffer, he had been of great help to the family after Dhirubhai and Kokilaben left for Aden (then a British colony and now part of Yemen).After Dhirubhai moved to Mumbai and founded Reliance, he encouraged Surabhai to invest ₹5,000 in the company.In fact, Dhirubhai was so certain that his investment would multiply that he even offered to give Surabhai ₹50,000 then and there.(Also read: Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani: A 90-year journey of faith and spirituality)“Our old family retainer, Surabhai, was assured that he would turn his savings of Rs. 5000 into Rs. 50,000. In fact, Dhirubhai was so confident of this happening that he offered to give him the Rs. 50,000 there and then,” Kokilaben remembered in her book.She said that now, her staff members ask why they cannot be given Reliance shares. She tells all of them that those shares were Dhirubhai’s legacy.“Now, when new staff asks me why they cannot have Reliance shares, I tell them that those shares were Dhirubhai’s legacy to those who had served him,” she said.