If you’ve seen clips of Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant’s multi-day wedding festivities that took over social media last year, you’ve probably wondered what kind of gifts a member of one of the world’s richest families receives for such a big event. The guest list included everyone from A-list Bollywood stars and international musicians to heads of state and top global business leaders, so the presents were as varied as the attendees themselves. Today, we’re breaking down exactly what did Anant Ambani get as gifts, from over-the-top luxury items to incredibly thoughtful sentimental presents you’d never expect. We’ll also cover the lesser-known philanthropic gifts that aligned with Anant’s personal values, and the rules the Ambani family follows when accepting gifts to avoid conflicts of interest.
What Did Anant Ambani Get as Gifts: Most Talked-About Luxury Presents
If you’ve been scrolling social media wondering what did Anant Ambani get as gifts that made headlines for weeks, these high-end luxury items are the first ones that come up for most people. Many close business associates of the Ambani family opted for premium, custom-made gifts that fit the grand scale of the event. The most widely reported gift was a customized Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead Coupe gifted by a group of Mumbai-based real estate developers, with custom interior details that reference Anant’s love for wildlife and animal rescue work.
Another standout luxury gift was a limited-edition Patek Philippe Grandmaster Chime watch, one of only 7 pieces ever made, gifted by a Swiss luxury goods partner of Reliance Industries. Some international guests also gifted fractional ownership in private jet and yacht memberships, tailored for Anant’s frequent work trips to remote project sites across India. It’s worth noting that not all of these luxury gifts were kept by Anant; per family policy, some high-value items from business partners were donated to Reliance Foundation’s charity auctions later in the year.
You won’t find exact price tags for most of these items publicly, but industry experts estimate the total value of all luxury gifts received crossed ₹150 crore. But that number doesn’t tell the whole story, because many of the most meaningful presents Anant received had no monetary value at all.
Heartfelt Personal Gifts From Close Friends and Family
Unlike the flashy luxury gifts that made tabloid headlines, most of the presents Anant has mentioned in later interviews are the personal, sentimental ones from his inner circle. His older siblings Isha and Akash put together a scrapbook of childhood family memories, filled with old photos, report cards, and handwritten notes from family trips dating back to the 1990s. Anant told reporters later that this scrapbook is the first thing he keeps on his desk in his new home, and he looks through it at least once a week.
Sachin Tendulkar, a long-time family friend, gifted Anant a handwritten note with life advice for married life, alongside a signed cricket bat from his 2011 World Cup win. A group of Anant’s closest childhood friends pooled money to commission a hand-painted oil portrait of Anant and Radhika on their favorite trip to the Corbett Tiger Reserve, where the couple got engaged in 2022. Even some of the biggest celebrity guests opted for personal gifts over expensive items; Rihanna, who performed at the pre-wedding festivities in Jamnagar, gifted Anant a custom vinyl record of her greatest hits, with a handwritten note congratulating the couple.
Many of these gifts don’t get the same media coverage as the luxury cars and watches, but they’re the ones Anant says he values most. It’s easy to assume that someone from a wealthy family would prioritize expensive presents, but Anant has repeatedly said that the thought behind a gift matters far more to him than its price tag.
Philanthropic Gifts Made in Anant Ambani's Honor
Anant is widely known for his work leading Reliance Foundation’s animal rescue and rural development initiatives, so hundreds of guests opted to make donations to charity in his name instead of giving physical gifts. These donations added up to far more than the total value of all physical gifts combined, and they directly support causes that Anant has worked on for over a decade. Many guests told reporters that they chose this option because they knew Anant would care more about supporting communities than receiving another luxury item.
The most common philanthropic gifts made in Anant’s honor include:
- Donations to Reliance Foundation's animal rescue and shelter projects, totaling over ₹20 crore from multiple guests, which will fund 3 new large-scale animal shelters across Gujarat and Maharashtra
- Funding for 10 new rural school libraries across villages in Jamnagar, the location of his pre-wedding festivities, which will serve over 12,000 local students
- Sponsorship of free pediatric heart surgeries for 500 underprivileged children across India, in partnership with Reliance Foundation’s existing healthcare program
Anant later released a public statement thanking all guests who chose to donate to charity in his name, calling these donations made in his honor the best gift he could have ever received. The Ambani family also matched all these donations, doubling the total impact for every cause supported.
Ambani Family Gift Acceptance Rules You Might Not Know About
Given that the Ambani family runs one of the largest conglomerates in the world, they have a strict official gift acceptance policy for all family members to avoid any conflict of interest with business partners or government stakeholders. All gifts worth over ₹1 lakh are logged in an official registry, and any gift from a current or potential business partner is reviewed by a compliance team before it can be accepted. If the gift is deemed to carry a risk of conflict of interest, it is either returned immediately or donated to charity.
The family also has a transparent tax declaration process for high-value gifts, with all eligible gifts declared to Indian tax authorities as required by law. They also regularly auction off high-value gifts that they don’t have space for or don’t want to keep, with 100% of the proceeds going to Reliance Foundation’s social initiatives. In recent years, these auctions have raised over ₹80 crore for rural education and healthcare programs across India.
Many people assume that wealthy families accept every expensive gift they receive, but that’s not the case for the Ambanis. The policy has been in place for over 20 years, and it applies to every family member, regardless of their role in the company. This rule is part of the reason why the family has maintained a strong reputation for transparency in their business dealings for decades.
At the end of the day, when people ask what did Anant Ambani get as gifts, the answer is far more varied than just luxury cars and expensive watches. He received a mix of thoughtful personal gifts that reflect his relationships with his loved ones, philanthropic donations that support the causes he cares about most, and a small number of luxury items that he either keeps as mementos or donates to charity. It’s easy to fixate on the high price tags of some of the presents, but the most meaningful gifts he received are the ones that align with his values and his relationships, not the ones that cost the most money.