Betting big on India, Soros terms Ambanis' growth spectacular

NEW YORK: In their bid to outdo each other after dividing their family empire, two Ambani brothers -- Mukesh and Anil -- have created India's most spectacular growth story in the recent past, believes one of the world's most renowned investor George Soros.

Putting India on a higher trajectory than China in terms of an investment destination, the legendary investor says in his latest book that the economic growth rate has more than doubled since his visit to India in late 2006, with the rise of Ambani brothers emerging as the most spectacular one.

"The most spectacular has been the rise of the Ambani brothers. When their father (Dhirubhai Ambani), the founder of Reliance Industries, died, the brothers divided his empire among them and are now trying to outdo each other," he says.

The book, titled 'The new paradigm for financial markets: The credit crisis of 2008 and what it means', is available in electronic format and print edition would come out on May 19.

Talking about the two Ambani brothers, Soros says that the two groups are present in businesses ranging from oil refining, petrochemicals, and offshore natural gas production, to financial services and cellular telephone.

"Mukesh Ambani is using the cash flow from its oil and gas business to set up Reliance Retail, bringing food directly from the grower to the consumer," Soros notes, while terming it as a "bold project that seeks to cut the differential between consumer and producer prices by more than half".

Incidentally, Soros has invested in about half a dozen ADAG firms, but none of the Mukesh-run companies are known to have any such investments.

The investment in various ADAG firms is estimated to be worth about one billion dollar and is said to account for over half of the total for all Indian companies.