Nita Mukesh Ambani is the most humble and simplest person one would come across. The powerful woman is the chairperson and founder of the Reliance Foundation, Dhirubhai Ambani International School. She is also a non-executive director of Reliance Industries.
Before getting hitched to Mukesh Ambani, Nita Ambani aspired to become a teacher. After marriage, she took the responsibility of the family. With a family fortune valued more than US$80 billion (August 2020), the Ambani family is among the richest in the world.
Reliance Industries chairman and managing director Mukesh Ambani’s wife is also an art collector and owner of the most-successful Indian Premier League cricket team Mumbai Indians.
In the year 2016, Nita was featured as ‘the fifty high and mighty Indians’ list by India Today. She was also starred as ‘the most influential women business leaders in Asia’ list by Forbes.
Though Nita is the wife of richest man in India and the fourth richest man in the world, she makes sure that her children are raised properly. Nita hails from a middle-class family. She used to take a local bus to go to her college or school.
Instead of sending her kids in their expensive cars, Nita Ambani used to send them to school by the public transport bus. She wanted her children to make aware of the lifestyle. “Life is about being aware of things around,” says Nita Ambani.
Nita Ambani, just like Mukesh Ambani is a down to earth person. A perfect example for this is that the maids in her home don’t call her “madam or Mrs Ambani”, they call her ‘Bhabhi’.
In an interview in 2011, Nita revealed how much pocket money she gives to her children. “When my kids were still young, I’d give them Rs 5 each and every Friday to spend in the school canteen.”
“One day, my youngest, Anant, came running into my bedroom and demanded for Rs 10 instead,” Nita said.
“When I questioned him, he said…”
“When I questioned him, he said his pals in school laughed whenever they saw him take out a five-rupee coin saying,’Tu Ambani hai ya bhikari!’ Mukesh and I couldn’t help but crack up,” Nita added.
“As I have already told you that Nita Ambani is from a middle-class family, she narrates,” My mum was a disciplinarian and we were barely allowed to go out – just four times in a year – and there was no pocket money given. Not to mention my curfew, which was midnight.”