Anil Ambani on Reliance Power IPO

When ET joined Anil Dhirubhai Ambani at Nehru park in Lutyens' Delhi at 8 am to cover four rounds of the 3.2 km jogging track, the marathon runner, dressed in trademark Orange Nike superdry tracks and Oakley shades with a built-in MP3 player, looked all set to breast the tape in less than an hour. For a man who's about to embark on a whistle-stop tour of Singapore and other European countries to meet investors, analysts and FIIs, Anil Ambani seemed set for a different kind of roadshow. "Come on, let's do another round," he says, after completing almost 10 km in less than an hour. And before you know it, that's over too. And before his chauffeur knows it, he sets out to run the next 4 km on the streets of Delhi, all the way to Imperial hotel to meet with other ET editors. Yes, he did 18 km, on the trot, in one hour fifty minutes. ADA, as his friends love to call him, is in a tearing hurry, some say to be the richest Indian, a real possibility if the Reliance Power IPO, India's largest, were to successfully go through. Ask him if his detractors and rivals will create roadblocks at the last minute to stall the issue, he retorts: "Jab haathi ki sawaari nikalti hai to kutte bhonka karte hain (When elephants walk, dogs can only bark)." In Pappa's Footsteps The overconfidence and aggression is trademark Anil Ambani. But, for now, some ten days before the IPO, it's all about Pappa kahte hain... "My Pappa used to say, 'Look at opportunity in every adversity.' I not only look at the glass half full, but, like my Pappa, I also see what's there in the glass," says Anil. Mr Ambani is quoting the father of Indian capital markets and RIL founder Dhirubhai Ambani at the drop of, well, a demat. "What's the wallpaper on your cell," he asks. He's got Dhirubhai Ambani's on his Nokia. "Whenever I am faced with a huge challenge, I look at this picture and wonder what Pappa would have done in this situation. Then I act. And life goes on..." Life, as we all know, has been on a roll for Ambani junior, by his own calculations, the market cap of his ADAG group has gone up from Rs 15,000 crore in 2005 (post the demerger) to a mind-numbing Rs 3,25,000 crore today. So will he soon be the richest Indian after the listing of Reliance Power? "Ha..." he says. After a brief pause and a deep breath even as he continues to jog, he says, "I tell people that Kokilaben is the richest Indian on earth. She owns 40% in both groups." And yes, serious running apart, some want to shake his hand, some want his autograph, some joggers close in and run with him for a while, some bystanders admire his determination to run the course... he loses no time in selling his IPO. "A broker in Ahmedabad told me that with a 5% discount for retail investors (and 30% of the issue is reserved for them), it's a steal. It's almost like giving them money to invest in the IPO. You know, he told me jokingly that I am being a Demat Jockey (jockey in Gujarat being people who write exams on behalf of real candidates)".