Mukesh Ambani overtakes Hong Kong's Li Ka-shing to become second richest man in Asia: report

Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani has overtaken Hong Kong business magnate Li Ka-shing to become Asia's second-richest man. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Ambani's wealth has seen a rise of $12.1 billion with the oil-to telecom conglomerate's shares seeing a surge with investors rallying behind his decision to launch the cheapest 4G phone, according to a Bloomberg report.
 
Mukesh Ambani in the Reliance Industries Annual General Meet last month announced the launch of the JioPhone. The phone is effectively free, but buyers will have to pay a refundable security deposit of Rs 1,500 which will be returned to the consumers after a period of 36 months. Ambani also announced that the board of directors of the conglomerate had had recommended 1:1 bonus share to shareholders. Bonus issue with a ratio of 1:1 means that shareholders will receive an additional share for every share of RIL they hold in the present.  

"One thousand rupees invested in Reliance shares in 1977 is today worth Rs 16,54,503 - over 1600 times more valuable," Ambani said. The stock which rose 122 percent or 885 points during the last five years made 57.89 percent or 590 points gain during the last one year. The stock's meteoric rise in the last 365 days has been attributed to Reliance Jio launching its free services, disrupting the telecom market. According to analysts, the large subscriber base of Jio could translate into paid subscribers after the free offers end. This would inturn lead to huge revenues for the firm.

According to the Bloomberg report, Mukesh Ambani overtook Li Ka-shing for a few days in April and again on July 7. His net worth stood at $34.8 billion, which has propelled him to the number 19 rank in the Bloomberg Billionaires Index from 29 at the end of 2016.

Li Ka-shing is the richest man in Hong Kong with a business empire that ranges from telecommunications to retail and port

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