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Try topping this birthday gift: An $87m plane
Sun, Nov 04, 2007 The Straits Times
MUMBAI - INDIA'S richest man, Mr Mukesh Ambani, has bought his wife a luxury jet with entertainment cabins, a sky bar and fancy showers for her birthday, media reports said. Mr Ambani, who owns the country's biggest private company, Reliance Industries, gave the US$60 million (S$87 million) Airbus plane to his wife Nita on her 44th birthday on Nov 1, the Mumbai Mirror reported on Friday. The jet is custom-fitted with an office and a cabin with game consoles, music systems, satellite TV and wireless communication. It also has a master bedroom, a bathroom with a range of showers, and a bar with mood lighting.

A spokesman for Reliance, which has a market capitalisation of nearly US$100 billion, told Reuters: 'We are neither denying nor confirming the report.'

With business interests ranging from oil to retail and biotechnology, Mr Ambani does not shy away from conspicuous consumption.

He is building one of the world's most expensive houses in Mumbai, local media reports have said.

The US$1 billion 27-storey home for a family of six, with a helipad, health club and six floors for car parking, has awed India's rich.

But it has also drawn criticism as an edifice of vulgarity in a country where hundreds of millions live in crushing poverty.

Reuters