Reliance Industries Ltd chairman Mukesh Ambani on Tuesday forecast that India will grow to be among the top three economies in the world in the next two decades and that it would become a premier digital society.
At a virtual chat with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Ambani said it was the social media giant’s investment of $ 5.7 billion in Jio Platforms in April that set the ball rolling for FDI into India during the pandemic. The result has been that India has received the largest ever FDI during April-August 2020 over any comparable period.
“And during the pandemic, India has attracted the largest foreign direct investment in its history. Mark, we have our own example of how Jio and Facebook concluded our partnership right in the middle of lockdown.”
“I have no hesitation in going on record, that it is your investment that set the ball rolling. Not only for Jio, but for the Indian FDI which has been the largest-ever in its history. And our partnership between Jio and Facebook, will actually demonstrate that it is great for India, Indians, and small Indian businesses’’ he said at the Facebook Fuel for India 2020 event.
The Reliance chief was upbeat about the future of technology in India. The digitisation steps in India will “democratise” wealth and value creation . He cited the example of the tie-up between Facebook and Jio which will bring millions of subscribers of WhatsApp and Jio and JioMart which is looking to service small shopkeepers.
He pointed out that the association will see Jio bringing digital connectivity, WhatsApp with WhatsApp Pay bringing digital interactivity, and the ability to move to close transactions and create value, while Jio Mart would present the huge online and offline retail opportunity apart from giving a chance to the mom and pop stores to digitize.
"And together with our platforms and the tools that we will provide to small businesses and to individual consumers, I believe will drive India to a 5 trillion economy and will make a much more equal India, with more equal wealth growth at the bottom of the pyramid," Ambani said.
He was of the view that there are great future opportunities in areas like education and healthcare and that the next two decades will prove to be "historic" in terms of the social and economic transformation.
While the domestic economy is now showing signs of recovery from the pandemic, Ambani was optimistic about its growth trajectory in the years ahead. He projected that the per capita income will rise from $ 1800-2000, to $ 5000 per capita. Further, the mid-income or the middle class in India which is about 50 per cent of its total number of households, will grow to three to four percent per year.
