From big oil to big data: inside Ambani’s US$20bil start-up

Mukesh Ambani, chairman of Indian energy major Reliance Industries, arrives to address the annual shareholders meeting in Mumbai June 18, 2010. Mukesh Ambanis Reliance Industries, unfettered by a pact that banned it from competing with his brothers firms, announced an aggressive push into the power business but was short on specifics during a hotly anticipated shareholders meeting. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui (INDIA - Tags: ENERGY BUSINESS)

MUMBAI: At the vast open-plan headquarters of Indian telecoms start-up Jio, billionaire oil tycoon Mukesh Ambani (pic) stands in short sleeves beneath a digital tracker that logs every new subscriber to his service.

The 59-year-old is India’s richest man, and his Reliance Industries oil and gas group is the country’s most profitable.