GREEN RANKING FOR 2009
Ranking: 5
Worth: £15bn
Green investment: Life sciences

Among Mukesh Ambani’s interests in his Reliance Industries operation is Reliance Life Sciences (RLS). It is testing intercropping of jatropha and pongamia — non-edible fuel crops that can grow on wasteland — at its research and development farms. On the seeds front, RLS is developing hybrid varieties of biofuels that will double the yield under irrigated conditions, which is about 10 tonnes a hectare. At the farm level, RLS has alliances with Indian farmers to build clusters of 100,000 acres feeding into 100,000-tonne biofuel extraction plants. Reliance Industries has taken a pounding during the recent stock-market turmoil. Forbes magazine in its November 2008 Indian rich list reckoned that Ambani’s fortune had fallen £20 billion in a year, down to £15 billion, but he is still India’s richest person.