Jio GigaFiber to Make India Among Top 3 Broadband Nations Globally: Mukesh Ambani

He, however, sounded a word of caution on data usage. “We have to be mindful that data is the most important resource in this new world. And India and Indians will generate a humongous amount of data. It is important that we utilise this rich resource for the benefit of India and Indians, with adequate safeguards,” he said.

Ambani, who heads oil-to-telecom conglomerate RIL, said the telecom industry could create a period of unprecedented growth and employment in the future that is powered by path-breaking digital technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, the blockchain, Internet of Things, virtual reality and augmented reality. With universal connectivity and extreme affordability, India can actually lead the Fourth Industrial Revolution, he said.

The Revolution can help double the incomes of 150 million Indian farmers, realise Ayushman Bharat scheme’s pledge of bringing health care to 500 million people, bring quality education to 200 million students in schools and colleges and create more jobs with the digitally-connected and AI-powered marketplace of small merchants and small enterprises. “India will demonstrate the greatest digital transformation in people’s lives in world history,” he said.

India, he said, will be among the largest digital markets in the world and every enterprise must have an ‘India First’ vision to participate in this market. “We will need to reinvent to grow and nurture this market to its full potential,” he said.

Ambani said India had come out of times when it was counted as the country with the largest number of extremely poor people in the world. “A World Bank report indicates that India will have fewer than 3% of its population living under extreme poverty by 2021. As per a United Nations report, as many as 271 million people have been liberated from the prison of poverty in the last decade alone,” he said.

India is among the fastest growing large economies in the world owing to a number of factors including the contribution of entrepreneurs especially those in the telecom, IT and digital space. “Never before has India witnessed such an explosion of entrepreneurial spirit,” he said.