From Disaster Management to Fortune 500 Company

On 24th July 1989, heavy rains and strong winds of about 100/150 kmph had literally swept Mumbai to Konkan; in which several people were also killed.

The Patalganga area, which is the home to many chemical companies in Navi Mumbai, was also inundated with torrential rains for 8-10 hours overnight, disrupting normal life and submerging the entire area. Among the hundreds of companies in Patalganga, Reliance Petrochemicals also had a unit spread over in 200 acres.

While the nature was in its worst form & still smashing the region the Reliance unit became in action early hours of the morning and the entire unit was shut down in just half an hour. A special team of senior and junior officers was formed to handle the emergency. Within the next two to three days, skilled workers from around the world arrived with state-of-the-art technology and machinery to deal with such a catastrophic event, and within 15 days of the flood, the massive unit was reopened.

Who knows how many days it took for the surrounding units of Patalganga to restart their operations or whether some were forced to shut down permanently due to the unbearable losses but Reliance did not fail to deal with this sudden disaster. They came out of it just the way Phoenix takes rebirth from the ashes.

Disaster management also requires a system to be in place, and if it does not exist, it needs to be created immediately. Its success depends entirely on one and only one thing: 'discipline'. And that discipline always begins at the top; with the leadership of the company.

I had started the courier company in March 1989, so the July 24 rainstorm was definitely costlier to me than to others. With the closure of trains & other disruptions, deliveries were badly hampered. But unlike many businesses, a courier service cannot stop with excuses like “it rained too much.” Whether new or old, the company had to deliver. Being new only meant we had to work harder, take special care, and perform despite the disaster.

As far as I have heard, Reliance's Dhirubhai Ambani had entrusted his eldest son, Mukesh Ambani, with the task of handling the Patalganga disaster within ten days. It didn’t finish in ten, but with the hard work & rock-solid commitment of everyone involved, who were working in that flooded water, the unit was back in operation within a fortnight.

And that was not the only time. Years later, when a similar disaster struck Reliance's Jamnagar plant in Gujarat, they again managed to resume operations within days. This proves it wasn't merely fate or luck that help them at Patalganga catastrophe. It was discipline, deeply woven into their culture and daily practice.

In my childhood, if anyone was bragging loudly, we used to tease them saying, "Yes, yes, we know, you are as big as Tata-Birla." At that time, Ambani was never been mentioned in any conversation as it didn’t even existed for us. Even now, Tata-Birla is still moving faster than their predecessor, but if anyone is growing faster than them, it is Ambani's Reliance.

Reliance Industries had set a target of freeing itself from debt before March 2021, but the milestone was achieved much earlier, in June 2019. And when the whole world was struggling with Corona Pandemic, Reliance Jio became debt-free by attracting huge investments.

Reliance Jio, a company founded only a few years ago, has risen to such heights in such a short span of time that not just corporates, but global leaders themselves, are literally queuing up to invest billions of dollars in it.

How did this become possible?

People place their bets on the same racehorse that has been winning repeatedly.

People place their bets on the same racehorse winning repeatedly. But for that horse to keep winning, there must be a strict routine such as diet, exercise, rest, training; all followed with precision. Without such discipline, a horse may win once out of luck, but consistency will never come.

The horse is important, but equally important is the jockey. Alone, the horse may run fast, but it cannot time its performance to perfection without guidance. The jockey provides that direction, and the magic happens only when the two move in unity. If there is no alignment, any victory will be accidental and short-lived. And no one bets on luck; investors only trust systems that show results.

This is where discipline again becomes the real key.

When you seriously start thinking about attracting investment, you realize one undeniable truth: without discipline, especially financial discipline, it’s nearly impossible. Investors, banks, even friends hesitate to back someone whose work is scattered or inconsistent. But when they see disciplined effort and structured progress, even if today shows a temporary loss, they believe tomorrow holds promise.

In business, destiny may open doors once in a while, but it is discipline that keeps them open. The number of years you spend in an industry will not matter if your actions lack rhythm and consistency. Rhythm is born only when you do something repeatedly, with commitment, not casually or when the mood strikes.

You cannot build fitness by exercising once a month and expecting miracles. In the same way, you cannot build a world-class company through occasional bursts of effort. Discipline is demanding, often monotonous, and at times feels exhausting, but those who carry it through year after year eventually find success waiting at their feet.

And this is exactly why Reliance not only survived calamities that wiped out many competitors but also grew into a Fortune 500 company.

There may be differences of opinion about their working methods, but the fact remains: Reliance, an Indian company, has scaled global heights in record time. That does not happen through shortcuts or by simply hiring more people. It happens by placing the right talent in the right role, by recognizing potential like a diamond and polishing it in the right way.

There may be differences of opinion about their working methods, but the fact remains, Reliance, an Indian company, has scaled global heights in record time. That does not happen through shortcuts or by simply hiring more people. It happens by placing the right talent in the right role, by recognizing potential like a diamond and polishing it in the right way.

Dhirubhai had the foresight to recognize talent. Perhaps Dhirubhai must have seen the brilliance of that diamond and worked to polish it. But more importantly, he used moments of crisis to help others recognize their own worth.

Not everyone gets such guidance, and not every son like Mukesh combines inherited wisdom with his own intellect to turn crisis into opportunity. But the ones who do, build empires.

And yes, disaster management isn’t a one-time strategy. It only works when discipline is part of your everyday life. Because if you cannot manage daily challenges with discipline, how can you ever handle a mountain of disasters successfully?