Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director of Reliance Industries Ltd, on June 6, in a public address, paid rich tributes to his former professor and mentor Prof M.M. Sharma at the launch of Sharma’s biography Divine Scientist. During the launch, Ambani called him a “Guru of Bharat” and one of the quiet architects of India’s economic reforms.

Ambani, who studied under Sharma at the University Department of Chemical Technology (UDCT), now known as the Institute of Chemical Technology (ICT), called the Matunga campus his “second home” and spoke in depth on Sharma’s enduring influence on his personal and professional life.

Recalling his days as a student in the mid-1970s, Ambani said he deliberately chose UDCT over IIT Bombay after being inspired by Sharma’s first lecture. 

“To this day, I remember Prof. Sharma’s very first lecture — and how, listening to him, I felt assured that I had made the right choice from moving to IIT to UDCT. Soon I realised that Prof. Sharma is an alchemist, not of metals, but of minds. He has the power to transform curiosity into knowledge, knowledge into commercial value, and both knowledge and value into everlasting wisdom,” Ambani said.

Ambani credited Sharma with instilling in him the principle of the “economics of chemistry,” blending scientific knowledge with commercial application. “In the 80s, I used to call him a ‘Bania Chemical Engineering Professor’—he taught us all to be Banias,” Ambani said, referring to Sharma’s insistence on turning every by-product into a co-product and creating value without waste.

“He taught us not only the magic of molecules, but also how molecules make money and create immense societal value. A perfect blend of scientific insight and business acumen,” Ambani added.

Ambani also revealed how Sharma played a behind-the-scenes role in liberalising India’s chemical industry during the restrictive economic environment of the 1970s and 1980s. “Like my father, Dhirubhai Ambani, he believed that India must break out of scarcity and think big,” he said, adding that Sharma’s advocacy before policymakers helped open up the sector to private players. “His voice was so credible that they not only listened to him but accepted his advice.”

Calling Sharma a “Gyaan Yogi, Karma Yogi, and Samruddhi Yogi,” Ambani said that true guru dakshina (offering) to Sharma would be to build a self-reliant, tech-powered India. He laid out five key ideas in Sharma’s honour, including transforming India into a global hub for deep-tech and advanced manufacturing using AI, fostering stronger academia-industry linkages, and focusing on character-building alongside knowledge acquisition.

The final idea, Ambani said, was a directive given to him by Prof Sharma himself—to make a significant contribution to ICT. “I’m very pleased to announce a grant of ₹151 crore to ICT on an unconditional basis,” Ambani said, to loud applause from the audience.

In closing, he addressed the students and youth in attendance, quoting Prof Sharma’s mantra that guided him: “Dream big. Study well. Work with dedication, discipline and a spirit of service. And bring greater glory and greatness to India.”