Data is the new oil; Trump a blessing for India: Mukesh Ambani

While explaining how technology is impacting several businesses, he gave example of use of Aadhaar

Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani said US President Donald Trump could be a blessing in disguise for India’s $150 billion information services industry.

“I think Trump can be blessing in disguise. It will allow Indian talent and the Indian tech industry to focus on solving India’s problems,” Ambani said at the 25th Nasscom India Leadership Forum.

The Indian technology industry has grown increasingly apprehensive about regulatory changes in the US brought about by the Trump Administration that could affect their business in their largest overseas market.

“At the foundation of the fourth industrial revolution is connectivity and data. The convergence of all the sciences — physical, digital and biological — is brought about by connectivity and data,” Ambani said. “Data is the new natural resource and fundamentally you have to have a lot of people to generate data. In that sense, India is naturally blessed with its 1.2 billion people,” he said.

“We are at the beginning of an era where data is the new oil and India with its talent and young population will have a competitive advantage,” he added.

Asked about his plans for his telecom venture Reliance Jio, Ambani said he was a believer in Indian entrepreneurial talent. He said whenever young Indians came together and were gifted an opportunity, they outperformed and over-delivered. 

Ambani has changed the way telecom data is consumed in India with an aggressive rollout of fourth-generation broadband wireless data and voice services through Reliance Jio.

“As the world digitises and we see opportunities to solve big problems. The domestic market is huge and within that what the Jio platform offers is partnership with the next generation to solve problems for India, improve the quality of life, and to make sure industries are more productive,” he said.

“It is reimagine and not re-engineer. We have to adopt next generation technologies. India has to be the capital of real implementation of Blockchain...make sure to adapt artificial intelligence and neuro-linguistic programming. The opportunities are immense. We have the infrastructure to do it in our own market,” he added.

On working with millennials, Ambani said his understanding was shaped by his twin son and daughter who were 25-year-olds. “The big lesson for all of us engineers and tech gurus is that we have to understand there is the power of the common man and technology has to adjust to human beings,” he added.

Explaining how technology was affecting several businesses, he provided the example of Aadhaar. “When we launched Jio we set a target of acquiring 100 million users in a short time. That target would not have been achieved without Aadhaar e-KYC, which allowed us to add 1 million users a day,” Ambani pointed out.