Having missed the first three industrial revolutions, India is now in a position to lead the fourth on the back of its vast tech-savvy young population and is on the way to becoming one of the three richest countries in the world, billionaire Mukesh Ambani said Tuesday.
Speaking at the 24th MobiCom conference here, Ambani, who heads the oil-to-telecom conglomerate Reliance Industries, said India’s digital transformation is “unmatch and unprecedented” after it took leadership position from being 155th in wireless broadband technology adoption in just 24 months.
Back in the 1990s, when Reliance was building its oil refinery and petrochemical projects, India's gross domestic product (GDP) was around USD 350 billion and had just come out of a severe financial crisis. “Very few in the world thought that our country's prospects were bright. Today our GDP is nearing USD 3 trillion, and India is well on its way to becoming one of the three richest countries in the world,” he said. Ambani, the richest Indian, said mobile computing as a catalyst is driving massive data consumption – and this has given young Indians a fertile ground for disruptive ideas.
Cloud computing and networking technologies have used broadband as a foundational enabler – leading to Indian entrepreneurs starting to make a global impact.
“In the next two decades, I can confidently say that India shall be leading the world and shall contribute to the next wave of global economic growth,” he said.
India languished on the fringes during the first two industrial revolutions powered by coal and steam and electricity and oil, respectively, and only started playing catch-up in the computer-driven third industrial revolution, he said. “The fourth industrial revolution is now upon us. It is marked by a fusion of technologies straddling the physical, digital and biological worlds,” he said. “I can say with full confidence that India has a chance of not just participating in the fourth industrial revolution, but also leading it.”
This is possible because the India of today is remarkably different from the India of yesterday. “India’s vast tech-savvy young population is its key strength. Just imagine the kind of connected intelligence India can create if the power of billion-plus minds is combined!,” he said.
Also, being a democracy that is run on the model of equitable and inclusive growth, it is openly embracing the digital technologies of tomorrow. It is a rich and fertile ground for entrepreneurship and has emerged as the fastest growing start-up base worldwide, he said. “Today, the nation is home to the third largest number of technology-driven start-ups in the world. Never before has India witnessed such an explosion of entrepreneurial spirit,” he added.
