To a question on growing inequality in India, the richest Indian said, "If you think about inequality that is not only a problem in our country, it's really a problem for all across the world. Income comes from opportunities." Taking a cue from the story of RIL, he said the company has gone a long way in improving the lives of its shareholders since the days when his father Dhirubhai started the business with a paltry USD 100. "...When I joined Reliance in 1980, the market value of RIL was USD 30-40 million and in 30 years, the opportunities that were provided by this country has enabled us to create wealth for India," he said. "My father was a big believer that any business that has the sole purpose of making money is not worthwhile. Business must serve a larger societal purposes. RIL raised all its money from the capital markets and from the individual small shareholders. So, we have created a million millionaires just by investing in RIL out of the ordinary Indians and that is the process of creating wealth for the country," Ambani said. Asked whether he himself thought he has a special responsibility to bring in equality, he answered in the affirmative. "Yes, of course. I have really my father as my role model and he started off with nothing. One of things he said to me that you really don't know, Mukesh, what it is to be poor and make sure that you maintain everybody's self-respect."
