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Hamish McDonald

The Polyester Prince: The Rise of Dhirubhai Ambani Paperback – January 1, 1999

by Hamish McDonald (Author)

3.6 10 ratings

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Dhirubhai Ambani's life is a rags-to-riches story, from Bombay's crowded pavements and bazaars to the city's extravagantly wealthy social circles where business tycoons, stockmarket speculators, smugglers, politicians and Hindi film stars mingle, make money, make and break marriages and carry out prolonged feuds-sometimes violent, often histrionic.
Until the arrival of Ambani, India's big business scene was dominated by a few industrial houses from British times. In just 26 years since its foundation, Ambani's Reliance group has risen to rival these houses. By 1995 the group had 2.6 million investors.
Along with the dramatic expansion of the Reliance Group have come intricate political connections, a whole raft of corruption charges and a rollercoaster of booms and crashes for Ambani and his company. This study shows how capitalism emerges by fair means and foul in the new industrial countries of the Third World, and is one of very few studies of Asian or Third World tycoons.

Print length

296 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Allen & Unwin
Publication date

January 1, 1999
Dimensions

6 x 1 x 9 inches
ISBN-10

1864484683
ISBN-13

978-1864484687
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Hamish McDonald Hamish McDonald
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About the Author

Hamish McDonald has most recently been based in New Delhi as the bureau chief for the Far Eastern Economic Review and has now returned to Australia as Foreign Editor of the Sydney Morning Herald.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Allen & Unwin (January 1, 1999)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 296 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1864484683
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1864484687
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 12.8 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,646,190 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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P. GUPTA

Interesting reading

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 20, 2001

Verified Purchase

And I thought how great Ambani really was, that I knew everything about fairfax issue, the Indian politicians etc. I was wrong! Read this book to get an insight as to why an average Indian businessman thinks that one has to take a 'twisted' route to be successful. And why you can't realy blame them - especially the players during license raj. Though Hamish has tried to write a biography of Ambani, this book suffers from a major handicap - most of the 'revealing' things are not backed by the source of that information. But I would recommend this to those who are intrested to have closer look at the wheelings-dealing of politicians, businessmen and the mafia. And to know that they have an unprincipled approach to money and power.

12 people found this helpful

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A. Singh

Mediocre effort.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 25, 2001

Verified Purchase

There is no real context for this story. While I do not find Ambani particularly appetizing, he is not the demon that Hamish McDonald makes him out to be. There is no sense of the person behind the perceived actions.
Obviously some of this is the result of not having access, but the writer needed to find a way to fill the gap.
The writing is uneven, and the differentiation between opinion and fact should have been clearer.
If you have some interest in the business climate in India this would be a useful read.

10 people found this helpful

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Mohit Kapur

Dhirajlal Hirachand Ambani

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 23, 2003

The Polyester Prince is a balanced book on India's own robber baron. Mr. McDonald pays tribute to Gujarati traders/ Banias in the first few chapters by acknowledging their exuberance of speech, inventiveness, and commercial drive. Dhirubhai first displayed his diplomatic and negotiating skills during the Junagadh freedom struggle. At Yemen, he exploits the fact that silver content in rial was higher than the pound. There he also learned the fundamentals of business by taking position in rice, sugar, and other commodities. At India, Dhirubhai progressed to trading in REP licenses and later textile manufacturing. One of Dhirubhai's greatest attributes was that he networked and lobbied furiously. He cultivated several journalists, politicians, and bureaucrats including Girilal Jain, Murli Deora, Yashpal Kapur, T.A. Pai, R.K. Dhawan, P.C. Sethi, Pramod Mahajan, and Pranab Mukherjee. Several policies such as the High Unit Value Scheme were introduced for the sole benefit of Reliance and tariffs mostly for the detriment of competitors like Kapal Mehra (Orkay Silk Mills) and Nusli Wadia (Bombay Dyeing). Reliance was the first to recognize the most important external environment- Government of India. Dhirubhai used the government to destroy Indian Express and Bombay Dyeing. Wadia, Mehra and the journalist Gurumurthy were arrested on fake charges. He is alleged to have tried to get Wadia assassinated through Kirti Ambani and contract killers. Reliance also resorted to envelope journalism and later buying out a newspaper to unfairly cast DMT as inferior to PTA. Dhirubhai is rightly called father of Indian equity cult as he patronized convertible debentures. One out of every four investors in India is a Reliance shareholder. The Ambanis used loopholes, shell investment companies/ tax havens in Isle of Man, duplicate shares, insider trading, and financial engineering tricks to ensure that Reliance was the largest zero-tax company and a pure cash flow operation. Though correctly described as ruthless and daring, Mr. McDonald overlooks that Dhirubhai was an innovative financier, brand builder (Only Vimal etc.), and an industrialist way ahead of his times (vertical integration, GDR etc.).

36 people found this helpful

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Sunil Dhall

A stark reality into Indian business

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 1, 2008

The book describes how business is conducted in India. While things have improved a bit since dismantling of license raj, behind the scenes rampant corruption still exists. While Ambani followed the other businessman of his day, one needs to give him credit to think and execute big and create entire markets in the process. While his son Mukesh has been performing well, the same cannot be bet on his other son Anil in the long run. I have some international prints of this book that I will be glad to sell.

One person found this helpful

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Ashish Mathur

Must read for anyone looking to do business in India

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 3, 2003

I bought this book directly from the publisher as it has been banned in India and after reading it is easy to understand why. Ambani's were the most visible business family from India in 80s. Everyone knows that powerful political connections are responsible for the meteoric rise of the ambani business empire. What the book talks about are many issues, which were kept under the carpet and never ever spoken in public. It is a very interesting reading.
Anyone who is interested to learn how business can be done in India, especially before the privatization, must read this book. The link between politics and business is very powerful and though it may have diminished a little in today's India, it is not completely gone.
I recommend this book to anyone who is trying to analyze the strengths of Indian business environment as an emerging country and wish to do business in India.

12 people found this helpful

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Sujith Thomas

A must read for any aspiring entrepreneur

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 10, 2007

Hamish McDonald has pulled this one off with a master's touch. It covers decades of Dhirubhai's life - his dreams, struggles, failures and successes.

Too bad this book was banned in India and is out of print. One word to describe the experience - Masterpeice!

I must add, The Library at University of Georgia has two copies!!!

6 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

Man with the vision

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 13, 2000

The book on Mr. Dhirubhai Ambani states that if you have a vision and desire to be successful there's absolutely nothing that can stop you. This is a true story of Rags to Riches where a common man who was a clerk at a Petrol Station goes on to become the One of the Richest Man in India.

7 people found this helpful

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Manish Jain

The Polyester Prince

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 15, 2003

This book is over rated because of controversy. Look at at the price of the book its ridiculous. There are thousands of other books i would rather read. Dont waste your time here

5 people found this helpful

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The Polyester Prince: The Rise of Dhirubhai Ambani Paperback – January 1, 1999

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