Among India's billionaire brothers, Mukesh and Anil Ambani tend to grab focus, as much for their internal feuding as for the fortunes they have built at the Reliance companies.

But two other Indian fraternal tycoons, Ravi and Shashi Ruia, are moving into the international spotlight as they strive to turn their company into a global energy giant.

Over the past few decades, the Ruias have built Essar Group from a small construction firm into an industrial force, with $15 billion in annualrevenue from steel, shipping and telecommunications. That's put them in the rarified league of families whose conglomerates dominate Indian industry, including the Ambanis, whose interests range from oil to financial services; the Birlas, with a portfolio spanning cement to mobile phones; and the steel- and auto-making Tatas.

Oil, gas and power generation are the Ruias next frontiers, through Essar Energy PLC, which the brothers listed on the London Stock Exchange in May. The initial public offering of a 23% stake in the company -- the Ruias control the rest -- took in almost $2 billion, making it the largest-ever overseas listing by an Indian company.

The expansion puts the brothers even further into the orbit of the Ambanis, a family with which the Ruias have three decades of shared history -- the Ambani patriarch was something of a mentor to the Ruias. As the Ruias try to expand, they face many market challenges, including from their bigger fraternal rivals.

One of Essar Energy's missions is to scour the globe for oil and gas assets, from refineries in Africa to oil fields in Latin America. Essar also plans to pump billions of dollars into oil refining, fuel retailing and power generation in India, where economic growth of nearly 9% a year is supplying robustenergy demand.

'We want to be a fully integrated energy player,' Ravi Ruia (pronounced ROO-ee-uh) said recently in a rare interview. 'We will look at other emerging or developing economies, where there is a potential of applying our Indian experience.'

Essar has expressed interest in purchasing as much as $500 million in BP PLC's African retail assets as the U.K. company tries to offset costs of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, a person familiar with the matter said. Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries Ltd. also is interested, another person said.

Essar Energy Chairman Ravi Ruia, 61 years old, founded Essar Group with Shashi Ruia, 66, in 1969 after their father died. Behind Mukesh and Anil Ambani, who have an estimated combined net worth of $43 billion, the Ruias are India's second-richest brotherly duo at $13 billion, according to Forbes magazine.

In many ways, the conglomerates mirror each other. The Ruias and Ambanis each have telecom, refining and power assets. The Ruias have a helipad atop their 21-story office building overlooking Mumbai's racecourse; the Ambanis are awaiting permission to use the helipad on the roof of their 18-floor mansion.

The Ruias began expanding from construction into shipping, ports and steel after moving in 1977 from the southern city of Chennai to Mumbai. For a time they shared an office building with Reliance in Mumbai's Nariman Point neighborhood and received advice from Reliance patriarch Dhirubhai Ambani.

'What he foresaw, and what he built, and what has been carried forward by both these [Ambani] brothers has been very unique,' Ravi Ruia said at his home in London's Mayfair neighborhood. 'Many people have drawn inspiration from that.' Reliance declined to make executives available for comment.

While the Ambani brothers are known for infighting following their father's death in 2002, resulting in them splitting up the Reliance empire, the Ruias have kept the family business intact.

Ravi and Shashi Ruia even share superstitions. They believe 13 is their lucky number because the conglomerate's fast growth began when its headquarters was on the 13th floor of a Mumbai office tower.

Amol Sharma

• indian [´indiən] a.印度的 n.印度人 (初中英语单词)
• international [,intə´næʃənəl] a.国际的，世界的 (初中英语单词)
• energy [´enədʒi] n.活力，精力；能力 (初中英语单词)
• construction [kən´strʌkʃən] n.建设；修建；结构 (初中英语单词)
• industrial [in´dʌstriəl] a.工业的，产业的 (初中英语单词)
• annual [´ænjuəl] a.每年的 n.年刊 (初中英语单词)
• shipping [´ʃipiŋ] n.船运业；船舶(总数) (初中英语单词)
• league [li:g] n.同盟；社团 (初中英语单词)
• financial [fi´nænʃəl] a.金融的，财政的 (初中英语单词)
• generation [,dʒenə´reiʃən] n.发生；世代；同龄人 (初中英语单词)
• interview [´intəvju:] n.&vt.接见；会见；交谈 (初中英语单词)
• mexico [´meksikəu] n.墨西哥 (初中英语单词)
• permission [pə´miʃən] n.允许；同意；许可 (初中英语单词)
• neighborhood [´neibəhud] n.邻居；邻近；附近 (初中英语单词)
• available [ə´veiləbəl] a.可用的；有效的 (初中英语单词)
• headquarters [´hed,kwɔ:təz] n.总部(署)，司令部 (初中英语单词)
• internal [in´tə:nl] a.内部的；国内的 (高中英语单词)
• strive [straiv] vi.争取；努力；奋斗 (高中英语单词)
• billion [´biljən] num.万亿 (高中英语单词)
• revenue [´revinju:] n.税收；收入 (高中英语单词)
• dominate [´dɔmineit] v.统治；控制；俯视 (高中英语单词)
• cement [si´ment] n.水泥；接合剂 vt.粘结 (高中英语单词)
• initial [i´niʃəl] a.最初的 n.首字母 (高中英语单词)
• offering [´ɔfəriŋ] n.提供；礼物；捐献 (高中英语单词)
• expansion [ik´spænʃən] n.扩大；膨胀；发展 (高中英语单词)
• expand [ik´spænd] vt.张开；膨胀；扩大 (高中英语单词)
• potential [pə´tenʃəl] n.&a.潜在的；可能的 (高中英语单词)
• inspiration [,inspi´reiʃən] n.鼓舞；灵感；启发 (高中英语单词)
• retail [´ri:teil, ri´teil] n.&a.&v.零售(商品的) (英语四级单词)
• fraternal [frə´tə:nəl] a.兄弟(般)的；友爱的 (英语六级单词)
• overseas [,əuvə´si:z] ad.(向)海外 a.海外的 (英语六级单词)
• robust [rəu´bʌst] a.强建的；茁壮的 (英语六级单词)
• offset [´ɔ:fset] n.&vt.抵销；补偿 (英语六级单词)
• brotherly [´brʌðəli] a.兄弟般的 (英语六级单词)