Shri Dhirubhai Ambani booked the Cooperage Football Ground in Colaba to host a mega-AGM event. It was reported in Financial Times as ‘the world’s largest company AGM’ attended by 12,000 Reliance shareholders. 'My investors are my biggest bankers,' Shri Dhirubhai Ambani said, acknowledging the massive crowd.
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In 1980, Shri Dhirubhai Ambani realized that Reliance would need to be self-sufficient in the acquisition of raw material, Polyester Filament Yarn. He won a manufacturing license and commissioned Reliance Patalganga under the supervision of Shri Mukesh Ambani, fresh out of Stanford University. Shri Mukesh Ambani worked tirelessly to ensure the plant was operational within just 18 months.
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Reliance shares were traded in the market as 'Dhirubhai'. Nobody was too small to invest in Reliance. Shri Dhirubhai Ambani would ask their domestic servants to buy Reliance shares for which he would lend them Rs 5,000 each and invest it in Reliance on their behalf. Eventually, he convinced close to 4 million Indians to invest their hard-earned money in Reliance. Here is a Reliance share priced at Rs. 10 in 1992.
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In 1977, in order to scale up its operations, funds were needed. Unwilling to face red tape from banks, Reliance reached out to the public. Its first public issue was oversubscribed seven times, to the complete astonishment of trade analysts. Small investors now became the backbone of the company.
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Reliance was adjudged as India’s finest composite textile mill by developed country standards by a visiting team from the World Bank. Japan Textile News reported independently, 'Such a scene is hardly seen even in the highly advanced textile-producing countries like Japan.'
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Jamanbhai Mehta, a friend and colleague of Shri Dhirubhai Ambani from Aden, displays Vimal fabric for Shri Bose Mullick, the Commerce Secretary, at the first exclusive Vimal showroom that opened in 1972 near Opera House, Bombay.
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Photo from the early 1980s shows Shri Dhirubhai Ambani and Smt. Kokilaben Ambani with their children, Shri Anil Ambani, Shri Mukesh Ambani, Smt. Dipti Ambani and Smt. Nina Ambani, all are wearing clothes made from Vimal fabric. The family had by then shifted to the 22nd floor of Usha Kiran on Carmichael Road which offered a breathtaking view of Bombay.
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Shri Dhirubhai Ambani always wore trousers made from Vimal fabric and insisted that his children wear Vimal too. A photograph of his two daughters, Dipti and Nina, wearing Vimal dresses held pride of place on his table.
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Initially, Vimal was not readily accepted by traders in Ahmedabad and Bombay who were controlled by long-established textile tycoons. Shri Dhirubhai Ambani decided to bypass the wholesaler and take Vimal directly to the customer. In 1972, Vimal opened its first exclusive showroom at Roxy Theatre, near the Opera House, Bombay.
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Due to lack of space in Bombay, Shri Dhirubhai Ambani scouted in Gujarat, his home state, to find a suitable land for a textile mill. In February 1966, he bought a 10,000 sq. yard plot at Naroda. He also bought the plots of factories around it that were facing business losses. Soon, the textile mill at Naroda spread over 125 acres.
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