NEW DELHI: Reliance Industries moved swiftly on Tuesday to deny a report that company chief Mukesh Ambani has become the world's richest man thanks to a surge in stock market.

An agency report putting his wealth at $63.2 billion hailed his rise as another triumph for the nation's booming economy. < p>

But Reliance said Ambani was not quite so rich after all, with a net worth of somewhere in the region of $50 billion.

The multi-billionaire was listed by Forbes magazine earlier this year in 14th place among the world's richest people with an estimated wealth of $20.1 billion, way behind Microsoft's Bill Gates on $56 billion.