Ambani not so rich after all, says company

NEW DELHI: Reliance Industries moved swiftly on Tuesday to deny a report that company chief Mukesh Ambani has become the world's richest man thanks to a surge in the stock market. 

The report by the Press Trust of India putting his wealth at $63.2 billion 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.

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, way behind Microsoft's Bill Gates on $56 billion. 

According to PTI, the breakneck rise in India's benchmark Sensex index, which rocketed to 20,000 points on 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 said, 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 Industries and group companies Reliance Petroleum and Reliance Industrial Infrastructure Limited.