It’s here. DNA’s eclectic list of the people who impact Mumbai has quite a few surprises this year, including the man at the top. Not surprising, for 2008-09, the period covered by our fourth annual list of The Influentials, was the year of global upheaval. Even as the top economies of the world tottered and swayed, the reverberations impacted India and Indians. The markets crashed, the economy received a shock, and even Bollywood felt the tremors. That’s why ‘the influentials’ themselves have been impacted like never before.

First Among Unequals
Mukesh Ambani
Chairman & MD, Reliance Industries
He is the richest Indian, owns almost half of Reliance Industries Ltd — the country’s largest private sector enterprise — and his under-construction Altamount Road home is billed as the world’s most expensive address. But this is not why Mukesh Ambani is number one in DNA’s Influentials list.

What puts him on top is the sheer durability of his power, come recession, political crisis or market collapse. His net worth may have eroded substantially over the last year, but his political clout is strong as ever. His ability to work the ropes is crucial for the running of a diverse conglomerate such as Reliance.

Consider what happened in the second half of 2008. The Congress at the centre had to seek support from the Samajwadi Party, whose general secretary Amar Singh was seen as batting for Mukesh’s brother and bitter rival Anil. But it had no effect on Mukesh’s influence among policymakers.

Another illustration: When Anil won his case in the Bombay high court for receiving a share of Reliance gas from the Krishna-Godavari basin at favourable rates, the petroleum ministry stepped in and asked the Supreme Court to scrap the verdict, claiming “sovereign” rights over the gas.

In business, Mukesh proved yet again that he was a master strategist when he announced the merger of Reliance with Reliance Petroleum — India’s biggest merger to date. Reliance, now, is the country’s top refining company, and is just three steps away from entering the global top 10.