Mukesh Ambani, wife Nita meet President-elect Donald Trump before swearing-in ceremony

Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani and wife Nita met US President-elect Donald Trump a day before the second inauguration of the Republic leader.

The swearing-in ceremony for Trump’s return to office will be attended by some of the most influential billionaires and politicians on the planet along with foreign leaders and celebrities.

The Ambanis, who reached US capitol Washington on January 18, were part of a select 100 who attended an intimate ‘candlelit dinner’ with trump last evening, sources with knowledge of the matter said.

They were perhaps the only Indians to attend the dinner where Vice President-elect JD and Usha Vance also met them.

The couple will attend the January 20 inauguration as the personal invitee of the Trump family, they said.

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An email sent to Reliance Industries Ltd, the company Mukesh Ambani heads as chairman and managing director, for comments remained unanswered.

Ambanis share close ties with the Trump family.

The richest Indian was present when Ivanka Trump, daughter of Donald Trump, visited Hyderabad for the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in 2017. She was an advisor to President Trump then.

He was also present when Trump visited India last as US President in February 2020.

Ivanka, her husband Jared Kushner and their eldest daughter Arabella Rose were among the celebrities that attended the star-studded three-day pre-wedding celebrations of Ambani’s youngest son Anant and fiancee Radhika Merchant in Jamnagar, Gujarat in March 2024.

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The family, dressed in traditional Indian attires, even posted pictures of their time spent at the celebrations on Instagram. In her first post, Ivanka, dressed in gold and silver gown, called the first night of festivities as a “magical evening in Everland.”

A follow-up post, that showed her wearing a two-piece white lace outfit, had the comment “The celebration of Anant and Radika’s love continues on our second night in India.” For the final night of the pre-wedding fun, she wore a white-and-gold dress with green and red accents, and captioned the pic, “Stepping out and headed to the Tusker Trails in Jamnagar.” Sources said the Ambanis are reciprocating that visit with the attendance at the Trump inauguration.

While many wealthy donors have pledged maximum USD 1 million contributions to Trump’s inauguration committee to get access and VIP treatment at the inauguration, the Ambanis have been extended a personal invite by the Trump family, they said.

Trump’s second inauguration is likely to be a star-studded event. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, along with their respective spouses First Lady Jill Biden and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, as also former Presidents Barack Obama, George W Bush, and Bill Clinton are expected to attend.

The world’s three richest people – tech entrepreneur and Trump’s most vocal supporter Elon Musk, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Apple chief executive Tim Cook, and chief executive of Facebook’s parent firm Mark Zuckerberg – will have a prominent spot at the ceremony.

Other Big Tech executives who will reportedly be in attendance are OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Google chief executive Sundar Pichai, and Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi.

Altman, Cook, and Khosrowshahi as well as companies Meta, Amazon, Google, and Uber each reportedly contributed at least $1 million to the Trump inaugural fund.

The tech companies have a significant stake in Trump’s second-term due to potential changes in tax policy, trade policy, and antitrust enforcement.