New Delhi: Mukesh Ambani has carried forward the legacy of his father Dhirubhai, who founded Reliance Industries in 1958, quite spectacularly.
The Mumbai-headquartered Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) has come a long way in 67 years. Its businesses include energy, petrochemicals, natural gas, retail, entertainment, telecommunications, mass media and textiles.
As Chairman and MD of India’s largest private tax payer and largest exporter, Mukesh is currently the richest person in Asia, and 13th richest in the world, with a net worth of $108 billion.
Looking back at his eventful journey, the 68-year-old industrialist picked his most critical decision.
In an interview with McKinsey & Co., Mukesh described his return to the telecom industry in 2016 with Reliance Jio as the “biggest risk” of his life, reported PTI.
He said Reliance Industries was investing billions of dollars in rolling out 4G mobile networks, which some analysts said won’t work out financially as India was not ready for the most advanced digital technology.
“But I told my board, ‘in the worst case, we will not earn much return. That’s okay because it’s our own money. But then, as Reliance, this will be the best philanthropy that we will have ever done in India because we will have digitised India, and thereby completely transformed India’,” Mukesh said.
Jio has indeed revolutionised Indian telecom market by providing free voice calls and extremely low-cost data since its launch in 2016, forcing its competitors to cut prices and thereby drive rapid digital progress across the country.
“We’ve always taken big risks because, for us, scale is important. The biggest risk we have taken so far was Jio. At the time, it was our own money that we were investing, and I was the majority shareholder. Our worst-case scenario was that it might not work out financially because some analysts thought India wasn’t ready for the most advanced digital technology,” said Mukesh.
Today, Jio is India’s largest telecom operator, with over 470 million subscribers and a growing footprint in 5G, cloud and AI services.
“We are believers that, at the end of the day, you come without anything into this world, and you leave without taking anything with you. What you leave behind is an institution,” Mukesh explained the philosophy of Reliance.
Recalling the words of his father and legendary industrialist Dhirubhai, Mukesh said: “My father said to me, ‘Reliance is a process. It’s an institution that should last. You have to make sure that Reliance lasts beyond you and me.’ That’s my commitment to him — that Reliance will last beyond us. In 2027, Reliance will celebrate its golden jubilee. But I want Reliance to continue to serve India and humanity even after completing 100 years. And I am confident it will.”
