Given their penchant for extraordinarily lavish social engagements, it should come as little surprise that the Ambanis have topped the list of the wealthiest people in the world. The family is number one in a run-down of the most valuable family businesses in , with a valuation that is equivalent to 10 per cent of the country's GDP, according to a Barclays-Hurun report. Reliance Industries, which is part of the family's £239.
47 billion empire, runs India's leading conglomerates in petroleum refining and marketing, oil and gas, organised retail, telecommunication, and other digital streaming services. According to , Nitin Singh, head of Barclays Private Bank, Asia Pacific, said: ‘India is a complex country. It is made up of states and various things.
It rewards people who know how to work in this complex environment. And I think that is what multi-generational businesses have been able to do over the years; they've been able to thrive in working in this complex environment.’ One way in which the Ambanis display their extraordinary fortune? Their global property empire.
The family home in – a 27-storey private apartment block named Antilia – is valued at £1.56 billion, making it the world's second most expensive residence after Buckingham Palace. Situated on the moneyed Altamount Road in the south of , the luxury home has three helipads, a 168-car garage, multiple swimming pools, four levels of gardens, plus a 50-person cinema.
The family also own a 100-year-old mansion set in 1.2 acres in Chorwad, where Reliance founder Dhirubhai Ambani grew up. Mukesh Ambani (the chairman and managing director of Reliance) has been expanding his property portfolio for years, and recently purchased Stoke Park in , which once belonged to Queen Elizabeth I, for £57 million – and immediately shut the famous country club down for renovations.
that the family are not respecting Stoke Park's leasehold terms, which state that the must be used as a commercial, rather than residential, property. Mukesh also bought a controlling stake in the Mandarin Oriental in in 2022, which is the hotel-of-choice for Hollywood royalty and overnighting billionaires. In the same year, he purchased a villa on the Palm Jumeirah Island, which he reportedly bought for £63 million.
The villa – which is spread over 3,000 square feet, has 10 bedrooms and a 70 metre private beach – was gifted to Mukesh's son, Anant, whose elaborate wedding celebrations have been the talk of the society set for the last few months. surrounding Anant's marriage to Radhika Merchant (herself the daughter of Indian pharmaceutical tycoons) began in March, with a pre-wedding party attended by the likes of Ivanka Trump and Mark Zuckerberg, who were entertained by a private performance by Rihanna. Then came a four-day European cruise in May for 800 of the couple's closest friends, followed by the : a multi-million pound celebration for 14,000 people, including the Blairs, the Johnsons, the Kardashians, the Rothschilds and countless Bollywood celebrities.
The exact cost of the wedding and its associated parties hasn't been confirmed, but according to reports, Justin Bieber charged £7.84 million to perform at one function, while Rihanna charged a figure of around £6 million. estimates that, in total, the celebrations could total up to £470 million.
Since their marriage, Anant and Radhika have been with the rest of the family, and are reportedly continuing their honeymoon with another party at Stoke Park in the autumn – the guestlist for which is rumoured to include and . Naturally, with one of the world's greatest fortunes at their disposal, we can expect the continuing celebrations to be just as fabulous as they have been thus far..
