India on track to feature among 3 richest countries: Mukesh Ambani

Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani on Tuesday said India is on its way to feature among the three richest countries in the world.

Speaking at the MobiCom 2018 here, he said contrary to general expectations the country has recovered well from global economic slowdown in the past few years.

"Today our GDP is nearing $3 trillion, and India is well on its way to becoming one of the three richest countries in the world," the RIL Chairman said.

Ambani also said that in the next two decades India would lead the world and contribute to the next wave of global economic growth.

On advancement in digital technology, Ambani said that in India "the transformative power of digitisation is breaking new ground every day". India's digital transformation is unmatched and unprecedented, he added.

Outlining the tasks ahead in the digital technology space, he observed that it is a major task to ensure that new technologies create more employment opportunities than the amount of job losses they cause.

A major task is "to ensure that new and disruptive technologies create more employment opportunities than they take away," Ambani said.

Although, he expressed optimism regarding employment opportunities, he said that there is apprehension in the society regarding the same and these apprehensions may delay the process of digital transformation.

"These very apprehensions could resist or delay digital transformation of our societies. That would be a mistake," he noted.

Ambani further emphasised that, governments, businesses and civil society organisations should put together an ecosystem for massive upskilling of workforce.

"Significantly, most of the upskilling can happen on digital platforms."

Apart from employment, the RIL Chairman said the country also needs to prepare for a period of information and digital abundance and adopt to the pace of innovation. He also stressed on the need to shift from a system of time-bound education to a mode of continuous learning.

Regarding India's global ranking in the broadband segment, Ambani said that the country is currently ranked low at 134th position and RIL's Jio would take the ranking to the top three.

"Jio is determined to move India to among the top three in fixed-line broadband."

Ambani had in July, at RIL's Annual General Meeting, announced that it would launch fibre-to-the-home broadband services, JioGigaFiber.

On prospects of India leading the world in the "fourth industrial revolution", Ambani on Tuesday mentioned that democracy is one of the factors which would help the country champion in the digital revolution.

"India is a democracy and is run on the model of equitable and inclusive growth with a society-wide culture of empathy. And it is openly embracing the digital technologies of tomorrow," he said.

With "world-class digital infrastructure", each one of the 1.3 billion people of India can productively participate in the fourth industrial revolution, he noted.

"We can solve the biggest unsolved problems facing humanity right here in India."

--IANS

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