Mukesh Ambani, Asia’s richest person, has joined Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk in the world’s most exclusive wealth club with a fortune of at least $100 billion. The chairman of Reliance Industries (RIL) has entered the rarefied group of 11 men as his conglomerate’s stock climbed to a record on Friday. He is now worth $100.6 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index after his wealth increased by $23.8 billion this year. 

Since inheriting the oil refining and petrochemical businesses of his late father’s empire in 2005, Mr Ambani, 64, has been seeking to transform the energy giant into a retail, technology and e-commerce titan. His telecommunication unit, which started services in 2016, is now the dominant carrier in the Indian market. His retail and technology ventures raised about $27 billion last year, selling stakes to investors ranging from Facebook and Google to KKR & Co and Silver Lake. 

Mr Ambani had unveiled an ambitious push into green energy in June, with a planned investment of about $10 billion over three years. And last month, the mogul said that his company would “aggressively” pursue production of cheaper green hydrogen. The plan aligns with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ambitions of turning India into a global manufacturing hub for the cleaner fuel to combat climate change and slash energy imports by the world’s third-biggest oil consumer. 

While Mr Ambani’s announcement has been viewed by some as an acknowledgment that his group needs to look beyond oil to cement its future, the fossil fuel still plays a central role at Reliance, accounting for almost 60 per cent of its $73-billion in annual revenue. The oil-to-chemicals business is now a separate unit, and talks are under way to get Saudi Arabian Oil Company as an investor.