‘s Ambani not so rich after all, says company

NEW DELHI, Oct 30, 2007 (AFP) – Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries moved swiftly Tuesday to deny a report that company chief Mukesh Ambani has become the world’s richest man thanks to a surge in India’s stock market.
The report by the Press Trust of India putting his wealth at 63.
2 billion dollars saw newspapers hailing his rise as another triumph for the nation’s booming economy.

But Reliance said Ambani was not quite so rich after all, with a net worth of somewhere in the region of 50 billion dollars.

The multi-billionaire was listed by Forbes magazine earlier this year in 14th place among the world’s richest people with an estimated wealth of 20.
1 billion dollars, way behind Microsoft’s Bill Gates on 56 billion dollars.

According to PTI, the breakneck rise in India’s benchmark Sensex index — which rocketed to 20,000 points Monday, after gaining nearly 4,000 points in six weeks — meant 49-year-old Ambani was now worth 63.2 billion.

“They are completely wrong. They have done double calculations,” Reliance spokesman Tushar Pania told AFP, explaining that Ambani, 49, does not have a direct share in Reliance Petroleum.

PTI calculated Ambani’s wealth on the strength of his holdings in Reliance