Business
Dhirubhai Ambani, father of Mukesh Ambani, father-in-law of Nita Ambani, and the founder of Reliance Industries, was born in a lower-middle-class family. He had four siblings Trilochana Ben, Ramniklal Ambani, Jasuben, and Natubhai.
Updated : Jul 25, 2024, 08:14 AM IST | Edited by : Riddhima Kanetkar
The Ambani family, one of the richest in the world, has been dominating the business world for a long time. Almost every member of Dhirubhai Ambani's family is associated with the family business and is contributing to taking it forward with Mukesh Ambani at the helm of it along with his three children - Akash Ambani, Isha Ambani, and Anant Ambani. But, do you know that one of Dhirubhai Ambani's sisters and her family are also associated with the Reliance Group?
Dhirubhai Ambani, father of Mukesh Ambani, father-in-law of Nita Ambani, and the founder of Reliance Industries, was born in a lower-middle-class family. He had four siblings Trilochana Ben, Ramniklal Ambani, Jasuben, and Natubhai. Trilochana was older than Dhirubhai Ambani and played an indirect but important role in the establishment of Reliance Industries.
There is not much information in the public domain about Trilochana Ben and her husband's personal life. However, it is said that the couple had a son - Rasiklal Meswani, who was one of the founding directors of Reliance.
In the third generation of Trilochana Ben's family, her two grandsons are Nikhil R Meswani and Hital R Meswani, who have been key players in Reliance Industries. Nikhil joined RIL in 1986 and was named as an executive director on the company's board. He mainly looks after the petrochemical division and is responsible for making some significant contributions to it. Apart from this, he is also involved in handling the IPL team Mumbai Indians as well as the Indian Super League.
Hital R Meswani, the younger grandson of Trilochana Ben, joined the company in 1995 and held the same position as Executive Director as his elder brother Nikhil. Hital is responsible for a vast division of interests in the company which includes petroleum refining and marketing business, petrochemicals manufacturing as well as other corporate duties of the company such as Human Resource Management (HR), Information Technology, Research & Technology.
Mukesh Ambani, the current torchbearer of the Reliance Group, in an old interview with Rediff, recalled his initial days in business and praised his first boss and aunt Trilochanaben's son Rasiklal Meswani for guiding him in the right direction.
"It was 1981. Nikhil and Hital's father Rasikbhai Meswani was my first boss. The management style was very open. We could go to each other's cabins, attend a meeting, or get involved in a discussion. My father encouraged this, but when I formally joined Reliance, he said you need a boss and I was put under Rasikbhai. He was running our polyester business, which involved importing polyester fibre, texturising it, and selling it to textile mills. This was a new business compared to our own textile mill in Naroda (near Ahmedabad), which gave about 60-70 percent profit," Mukesh Ambani was quoted as saying.