Mukesh Ambani is the chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries. The elder son of Dhirubhai Ambani grew up, like the rest of the family, in a chawl (vottara) in Girgaum. He is married to Nita and the couple have three kids, Akash, Isha and Anant.
The Ambanis—Dhirubhai and Kokilaben, the brothers Mukesh and Anil, and their families—have lived for the better part of the last two decades in a 13-storey building called “Seawind” built amid much opposition from neighbours and environmentalists, in Cuffe Parade.
Now, Mukesh is building a home of his own called “Residence Antilia” on a 4,532 sq ft plot on Altamount Road, also in South Bombay, where the land rate is Rs 75,000 per square foot. Last night, the Hindi television channel Aaj Tak ran a 15-minute programme on “India’s Most Expensive House”, full of the kind of details that so enthrall Hindi viewers.
# Mukesh new home to accommodate the six members of his family—himself, his wife, their children, and his mother—is going to be 27 storeys tall.
# Although the “glass house” will be 27 storeys on the inside, its actual height of 173.12 metres will be equivalent to that of a 60-storey skyscraper from the outside.
# The value of the land on which the building is coming up is Rs 350 crore.
# The total built-up area is 4,500 square metres.
# The building will have three helipads.
# The first to sixth floors will be a parking lot, and 168 cars can be parked inside the house at any given time.
# Four of the 27 floors will be for the six-member family, two floors for guests.
# One floor, possibly the seventh, will be the workshop for the cars parked in the building.
# The 8h floor will house a 50-seater home theatre, complete with a balcony and a garden.
# One floor will be a beauty parlour, another will house a swimming pool and a gym.
Agreed, Mukesh Ambani is an uber-rich man and he cannot be expected to live like plebs. Agreed, it is his money and he is free to do what he wants to do with it. Agreed, in South Bombay, you can only build vertically. Agreed, he has to make a statement. And maybe, the new building will be a great new addition to the skyline in the city of dreams.
Still, is this the kind of conspicuous consumption that the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was targetting?
Bidi sir..enjoy maadli..whatz the point in being one the world’s richest man if you cant live like one. Anyways, what he is doing is neither illegal or unethical.
Hoodu Bidi sir, Avar duddu averu majamadali. Anyway the government is indirectly helping him by giving him permissions to sell vegetables and everything else thereby hitting the poor cart vegetable vendor. Coming to Manmohan’s statement. it is case of “Maadodu Aanachara, Mane Mundhe Bridavana”
Churmuri – contributors,
I have been reading all your posts regularly and it was good insight to read about media related news. (esp. DH/PV editor changes etc)
I have a suggestion – Take any day or a series of days in a week – take all the main english newspapers in Bangalore – DH, Hindu, ToI, Express, Vijaytimes etc and measure the actual Column-by-centimeter coverage of reporting of news related to Bangalore/Karnataka in each of these papers.
That will give a good insight into the papers covering Karnataka news.
thanks
Hogli bidi.. atleast he is not like our polititians who build their houses with people’s money! Atleast he is building it with his own money. Maja maadli :-)
shark:
the correct expression (in case you’ve forgotten!) is ‘mast majjaa maadlee’ ;-)
– s.b.
Manmohan Singh was right to an extent. The envy and jealousy is not in the ‘poor’. The ‘poor’ at least the urban poor, find employment in such construction projects, work in their factories, so there is some net benefit as far as they are concerned.
The envy and jealousy is in the middle class. They see the Ambanis, middle class less than a generation ago, suddenly super-duper rich before their very eyes. Or they see the Tatas, rich for four generations, and enough wealth to last them another four. Or they see NR Narayana Murthy. Or Azim Premji. For similar reasons as Ambani and Tata respectively. What have they got that I don’t?
To examine deeper would mean going into the faults and fallacies of one’s own life. No, it is easier to blame their riches on corruption, nepotism, greed, caprice… anything to take away from one’s own lack of foresight, initiative, or plain simple guts.
Doesn’t it take an enormous amount of bravery to risk everything on one’s ability to convince other people daily? I’m not referring to lawyers who get paid even if they lose the cases, but businesses. Businesses can fail, and fail spectacularly. Infosys was on the verge of closure before liberalization. How many of us want to take that risk with our lives and wealth? What galls us more is that they share their wealth around, and refuse to stick to our stereotype of ‘evil’ that we believe them to be.
When we see someone who was more courageous, more focussed, more daring than us, and who succeeded in spite of the obstacles, it hurts to know that they have what we don’t, or that they actually deserve what they get, and so do we. We thus draw the halo of self-righteousness tighter around ourselves, and spite them for their corruption, or nepotism or most ridiculously, “lack of patriotism”!!
The envy is purely middle class ladies and gentlemen. Manmohan Singh articulated, quite eloquently, the angst and the frustration of a middle class that sees moral decay in wealth, vulgarity in economic growth, and nothing but righteous modesty in its own position. It galls them further that the next generation thinks nothing like that, so they are tagged as ‘materialistic’ or ‘brand conscious’ and while we are it, ‘unpatriotic’.
Long rant, but that is the only response I could think of to the recent ‘debate’ to CEO salaries.
Mukesh has earned every bit of it.
Having worked in Reliance before, i know the legendary work ethic he displayed while bringing back the Petrochemical plant in Patalganga(outside of B’bay) from sure ruins as result of deluge (monsoons – some conspiracy theory pointed fingers at Tata’s & Nusli Wadia – Bombay Dyeing), back to its feet in record time. He essentially lived in tents in the the plant premises – 24 hours. Dhirubhai – as a result of the shock – was paralyzed for life at that time. Single handedly at a tender age of mid twenties – he was the architect of rise of Reliance.
One should see the plants in Surat & Jamnagar to get a grasp of what he has achieved against all nay saying. Visitors from Shell, BP..etc would be dumbstruck to see the world class plants – remember this was in mid 1990’s when India was not the ‘hot spot’ for business world.
MMS is catering to the ‘sour grapes’ types. Its sad that – he did not use the growth in wealth in India as an opportunity for all those who can take risk & contribute to the economy.
Last year when Forbes and a few other magazines listed several Indians in its list of richest people, it was mentioned that most of them have very un-millionaire like habits. Most of them had no vices, were teetotallers, were happily married family types, with simple food habits, no flashy cars and do not like to flaunt their wealth. In short by and large, they have a squeaky clean image.
So if they want to spend that money on a house that should be ok. From the description most of it will be used as an office anyway. ‘Sampaadisiruva hanaa manegaadaru kharchu maadali”.
I agree it is his money and that he’s free to spend it as he sees fit.
It is, however, interesting to compare the priorities of folks like the Ambanis and LN Mittal that of people like Bill Gates and Warren Buffet. I’ve never been a big fan of Microsoft the company but I stand in awe of the accomplishments of the Gates Foundation. While I’m sure that Gates and Buffet live like billionaires, they are using their wealth to make a difference in the life of those less fortunate. Again, that’s how they choose to spend their money.
From Profile: The Google Founders (on BBC)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3666241.stm
They are your text book, well presented, quietly well behaved “boys next door” from a smart middle class American suburb.
Only a lot richer.
Yet far from living an extravagant lifestyle, complete with yachts and private jets like fellow software leader Oracle boss Larry Ellison, Mr Page, 31, and Mr Brin, 30, are both reported to continue to live modest, unassuming lifestyles.
They don’t even have sports cars, and instead are said to each drive a Toyota Prius, a plain-looking but rather environmentally friendly saloon that is half electric-powered, and growing in popularity among green-minded Americans.
Mr Brin’s father even claimed recently that his son still rents a modest two bedroom apartment.
…..
Don’t know what to say.
Sour Grapes are whatever..there’s beauty in Zen Minimalism or Gandhi’s Simplicity
“Last year when Forbes and a few other magazines listed several Indians in its list of richest people, it was mentioned that most of them have very un-millionaire like habits. Most of them had no vices, were teetotallers, were happily married family types, with simple food habits, no flashy cars and do not like to flaunt their wealth. ”
pick up any ‘millionaire next door’ type of book and you will read that the characteristics described above are, in fact, traits of the millionaires.
i would cancel that forbes subscription (among others) if i were aiming to be a millionaire sometime …
– s.b.
Wonderful discussion – I think the important point that everyone alludes to but shys away from mentioning is – “From whom is this coming” and “To whom is it intended”. Everyone wishes to be an Ambani (well atleast most of us) but are not willing to put in the hardwork like Sr. Ambani did. I for one, think MA is entitled to spending his money the way he wants. For instance do WE take cognisance of what others say, when we spend our monies? Come on guys/gals, wake up ! MMS is turning to be a bad joke when he starts pompously sermonizing us – Having spent a significant period in USA/UK, it is hard to believe that he is speaking so – clearly this is politics (indian style). It hurts when we hear about Sharad Pawar or a Deve Gowda and their ilk having acquired assets beyond anybody’s imagination through dubious or questionable means – but let Ambani spend his money the way he wants.
Mega Company, Mega Business, Mega Life… Megalomania setting in.
While one one hand I think this is totally uncalled for, I do not have a problem with Mukesh Ambani going to such extremes building himself a mansion like this. Why is it that Indians drool over big mansions of really rich people of the West and yet are the first to criticize this plan by Mukesh Ambani? Is it so because he is Indian and we cannot see other Indians do well? I am proud to see that Indians now have the means to think at this scale! Go India!!!
Undaunted by criticism by a Parliamentary panel, the government cleared 28 fresh special economic zone proposals on Thursday, including the Navi Mumbai promoted by Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani, taking the total number of approvals to over 500
In an exclusive soundbyte Ambani says, “I only want to
take the easy way out in life. That is why I am building a 27-storey skyscraper mansion in the heart of Mumbai. The total cost of the project is expected to be US$100 million and it has been possible due to the blood of the backs and sweat of the brows of Reliance employees who slogged to create wealth on my behalf while I took it easy in life. At least I am not like our politicians who build their houses with people’s money. At least he is building it with my own wealth which was given to me by my employees sheer dint of work. Mumbai will become like Brazil in five years time On one side there will be billionaires like me and Lakshmi who have never had to work for anything. On the other side there will be employees of firms like Reliance who will live from paycheque to paycheque and wonder where the next meal is going to come from.
“I am shamelessly erecting my lavish home in a city that has seven million slum dwellers. One building to rule them all! I am a rich man grabbing land. I am a shameless cretin. The sons of the soil whose land have been acquired, will end up as serfs in my company which will come up in the SEZ. They will not be able to fight for their salaries, bonus, leave and form a union. They will be left to survive my megalomaniacal desires.
“The government is playing into my soft hands which have never worked even for a day. I have manipulated the government like a puppet into giving the entire Raigad district to me on a platter. I managed to create an unseemly disturbance in the peaceful meeting of hundereds of farmers and their silly process of presenting
objections to the Land Acquisition notices to the officials. I was nervous about the growing resistance by the farmers for usurping their productive land and therefore used the police to crush the movement like what the British Raj did at Jalianwallah Bagh.
“My SEZ has no responsibility to provide employment to the people in and around the area whose land I have unlawfully grabbed like Al Capone. There will naturally be no scope for the employment for the local people whose land I have grabbed as most of the jobs will be skilled ones. The practice of poverty pay, ‘hire and fire’ will be made easier I do not respect the natural resources of the communities – land, water, forest, sea-coast and the sovereignty o the people whose land I have grabbed. I only respect easily gotten wealth.
“I am smart. I will never ever go to those regions where non-fertile land exists and try to convert them into SEZs. That will involve to much hard work which I personally abhor. I leave that to the poorly paid employees of Reliance who through through sheer dint of hard work have allowed me to create a mansion to my easily gotten wealth.”