Reliance is set to become a deep-tech and advanced manufacturing company. "At Reliance, as we've grown, we have realized that technology changes lives. We want to create impact at scale that improves the lives of all Indians. Therefore, businesses of the future will have to be good at harnessing technologies of the future," said Mukesh Ambani, Chairman of Reliance Industries, in an interview with Gautam Kumra, Chairman of McKinsey Asia (excluding China), published on Wednesday, June 25, 2025.
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From Technology Licensees to Technology Owners
"When we grew up, we were the users of technology, and it was clear that we had to license technology from abroad to ensure high quality. But we were subjugated to so many licenses. It was also high risk because, at the end of the day, if a plan didn't work, you could lose your shirt. I used to push my leaders by saying, We have to be owners of technology. We must be innovators," Ambani said, envisioning technology's impact on Reliance over the next decade.
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Built Everything for Jio's 5G In-House
Ambani said Reliance had built everything necessary for Jio to launch 5G in 2021, including the core, hardware, and software. Although there was support from Nokia and Ericsson, it was only to ensure that everything Reliance had built was in good form.
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"The change now for Reliance is that we are going to be a deep-tech and advanced manufacturing company. We started with telecom. In 2021, we launched 5G. We built everything ourselves, end to end—the core, the hardware, the software, every single piece. We used Ericsson and Nokia to help us on 20 percent, just to make sure that the 80 percent that we put in was good," Ambani said, speaking about Reliance's telecom venture, Jio.
He added, "I also wanted to make sure that our people were not too full of themselves. I said to them, 'You have to be better than these guys.' And we are now. That gives us unique capabilities today that we are launching in the market. As it's our own technology, we will now be able to offer unique services."
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AI with a Purpose
"That kind of movement is what we have seen in all our businesses. What people don't realize is that when you make OpenAI or other [artificial] intelligence, the same 500 people will work on it. Today they work for you, and after tomorrow, they work for someone else. They also have a purpose, and they say, 'As long as we align with the company's big purpose, we'll come to work for you.' We are doing that continually now." Ambani said.
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"Within the AI field, we have created our purpose by saying, Our big purpose is to solve the complex problems before society and create wealth for the nation and the people. For this, we need not go into the high-risk GPU game. Let's do everything downstream. This has a compelling appeal on many bright minds. As a result, we are attracting the best people. If you are clear about your goal, and you know how to use technology, then you will achieve your North Star," Ambani said, explaining Jio's approach to GPU investments.
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High-Stakes Bet on Jio
Speaking about the significant risks involved in the USD 25 billion investment into an untested market with the launch of Reliance Jio in 2016—now valued at roughly USD 100 billion according to Kumra—Ambani said, "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. 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 digitized India, and thereby completely transformed India," Ambani explained.
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Clean Energy Manufacturing
On the topic of sustainability, Reliance is now building manufacturing systems for green and clean 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 planet Earth from the looming climate crisis," Ambani concluded.
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