New Delhi: Mukesh Ambani, the Chairman and Managing Director of Reliance Industries, has made some announcements about investments in building and telecom major Jio, which was the most significant risk he might have taken, despite scepticism from analysts who doubted India’s readiness for the necessary digital infrastructure.
In an interview with McKinsey and Company, Mukesh Ambani said that some thought India was unprepared for the most advanced digital technology. Still, the decision was made with the reliance Industries’ philanthropic philosophy in mind.
He also stated that, even in the worst-case scenario, even if the investments don’t deliver the expected returns, it would still be Reliance’s most significant act of philanthropy, contributing to India’s digital transformation. We have always taken significant risks because, for us, scale is the most critical factor. The most significant risk we have taken that so far was Jio. At the time, we were investing our own money in this technology, and I was the majority shareholder in the company.
Mukesh Ambani added that our worst-case scenario was that it might not work out financially, as some analysts thought India wasn’t ready for the most advanced digital technology. Mukesh Ambani told their board that we would not earn much return. That will be okay because it’s our own money. However, as a result, this will be the best philanthropy that India has ever seen, as we will have digitised India and thereby fully transformed it.
Ambani also discussed the future, stating that businesses of the future will have to excel at harnessing future technologies. So, our North Star has always been that our vision and purpose for doing business must be impact-led. My father used to say that if you wanted to start a company to become a billionaire, you are an idiot; you will never get there. If you want to start a business that impacts a billion people, then you have a good chance of success, and as a byproduct, you can make a reasonable amount of money.
He also added that we started with telecom in 2021 and launched the 5G network for the people. We have built everything ourselves, end to end, the core, the hardware, the software, and every single piece. I also wanted to ensure that our people were not overconfident; this is our technology, which is now capable of offering unique services. Ambani asserted that Reliance could build the businesses of the future. With our experience, we can extrapolate the future 20 years from today. That’s why we didn’t hesitate to build polyester first or to build 4G before its time. The same is now true about our newest business venture in new energy.
We are building one of the world’s largest manufacturing ecosystems for green and clean energy. It covers solar, batteries, hydrogen, bio-energy and much more. This is our contribution to saving the planet Earth from the looming climate crisis.
