‘Obscene’ amounts spent on Indian billionaire Ambani’s son’s wedding | Business and economic news

Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s son gets married on Friday in a lavish ceremony that has been a hot topic at home and abroad, with his father’s $260 billion conglomerate Reliance taking to social media to spread the word strongly the event.

Reliance’s efforts, along with posts from a number of Bollywood stars and media coverage, have helped spark public interest in marriage, overshadowing some critical social media posts that have questioned opulence at a time of growing inequality in India.

Ambani’s youngest son Anant, 29, will marry his longtime girlfriend Radhika Merchant, 29, in a star-studded ceremony in Mumbai that will be attended by celebrities and politicians including Kim Kardashian, Mike Tyson, Tony Blair and Boris Johnson. Three days of celebratory receptions will follow.

An anonymous Reliance executive called the event a “powerful symbol of India’s growing stature on the global stage.”

“The presence of esteemed individuals highlights India’s economic, political, intellectual and scientific prowess,” states the note, shared with journalists.

Ambani, Asia’s richest person, is famous for organizing lavish parties, especially for his three children Akash, Isha and Anant. International artists perform and a host of Bollywood stars often attend the gatherings, which cost millions.

This promises to be the most extravagant of Ambani’s galas yet, although it is not known how much was spent.

‘Ostentatious expenses’

Some, such as opposition politician Thomas Isaac, called the amount of spending “obscene”.

“Legally it may be their money, but such ostentatious spending is a sin against mother earth and [the] poor,” he said in a post on X.

The wedding ceremonies were considered a public event, leading to traffic restrictions in a major commercial district of Mumbai for four days, also raising public anger.

With limited access and closely guarded details, information distributed to the eager public has been done in part through Reliance’s official Facebook page, which has 2.3 million followers.

The account shared video clips of dance performances and photographs to give a peek into the private celebrations.

One publish on Reliance’s Facebook account this week, which received 54,000 likes, showed the Ambani family at a private musical event, dancing to a Bollywood song, a common practice at Indian weddings. It was promoted with hashtags like #ARWeddingCelebrations.

Media access to the wedding venue was restricted on Friday night, with only a limited number of photographers and TV crews allowed to capture arriving guests.

Spectators stood with umbrellas in the rain outside the venue, some clicking photos, with the sound of Bollywood audible inside.

An executive from a foreign company in India, who is expected to attend Ambani’s wedding this weekend, told Reuters that event organizers will likely tape the camera phones of guests entering to ensure no photos are taken.

Most of Ambani’s celebrations are closely guarded.

Wedding events began in March with a three-day pre-wedding party with 1,200 guests and a performance by superstar Rihanna, followed by a luxury European cruise with 800 guests in May.

Days later, several Bollywood actresses posted photos on Instagram, sporting luxury brands, for their millions of followers, without any details of the Ambani cruise celebrations.

The interest is so great that Indian TV news channels follow the wedding minute by minute.

“The world descends… Guest list for what’s to eat. Every minute detail on Times Now,” read the TV channel’s tickers on Friday night.