Reliance Group to invest Rs.10,000 crore on Digital India

Reliance Group chairman Anil Ambani on Wednesday announced an investment of Rs.10,000 crore toward "Digital India" over the next few years to enhance broadband delivery and cloud-enabled platforms.

Speaking at the launch of "Digital India Week" by Prime Minister Narendra Modi here on Wednesday, Ambani said that Reliance Communications will double its data centre capacity to 1.2 million sq ft over the next few years to play a critical role in the initiative.

"I am pleased to announce that we will achieve full deployment of our next generation content and cloud delivery network by the end of this year with -- what is a first for India -- five fully operational cloud exchange points," Ambani said.

"These exchange nodes can help government departments access 240 times the amount of compute power currently available in government data centers, and over six times the high speed storage that is currently available in India," he added.

"This network will have the ability to scale up 100 percent every 90 days as the 'Digital India' initiative gathers momentum and becomes a part of the daily lives of millions of Indians."

The could exchange programme of Reliance Communications offers its subscribers a platform on which they can securely store large amounts of data and get access to tools to analyse that. Since it's a shared platform, costs are a fraction of what it would otherwise entail for a dedicated centre.

Ambani also said that the flagship Reliance Group company will also embark on a key futuristic element of prime minister's digital vision -- that of a "Digital Locker" for every citizen. These lockers are primarily aimed at storing physical documents in a digital format.

"Having already signed up for this personally, it will be my effort now to persuade others in our group and the larger Reliance family to come forward and enrol," he said, adding some innovative schemes will encourage each of the group's 300 million customers to own such lockers.

Ambani said the "Digital India" programme had the potential to connect, bridge and integrate all Indians as a nation like never before.

He said Prime Minister Modi himself was himself the best example of the world's popular leaders in the digital space with over eight million followers on Twitter and more than three times the numbers -- or 25 million followers -- on Facebook.