India, Feb. 12 -- In 1932, a man was born in a small village in Gujarat who would go on to change the face of Indian business. Dhirubhai Ambani - it can be said without exaggeration - was one of the most influential entrepreneurs India has ever produced.

Born in Chorwad, in the Junagadh district of present-day Gujarat, this son of a schoolteacher would go on to become the founder of Reliance Industries.

Dhirubhai Ambani founded Reliance Commercial Corporation in Mumbai in 1958, initially trading in spices and polyester yarn. In 1977, Reliance went public, inviting ordinary Indians to become shareholders at a time when equity investing was largely confined to the elite.

In her book 'Dhirubhai Ambani: The Man I Knew', his wife Kokilaben ...