New Delhi/Gandhinagar, Reliance Industries Limited Chairman & Managing Director Mukesh D Ambani said on Friday that his company has invested Rs 3 lakh crore in Gujarat and created and catalysed over one million livelihood opportunities in the state.
”We have so far invested nearly Rs. 3 lakh crores in the state of Gujarat. And created and catalysed over one million livelihood opportunities in Gujarat,” Mr Ambani said in his address at the 9th Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit in Gandhinagar.
Paying homage to Mahatma Gandhi, the Father of our Nation, in the year of his 150th birth anniversary, he said Gandhiji led India’s movement against political colonisation.
Emphasising the importance of data, he said, ”Today, we have to collectively launch a new movement against data colonisation. In this new world, data is the new oil. And data is the new wealth. India’s data must be controlled and owned by Indian people ─ and not by corporates, especially global corporations,” he said.
”For India to succeed in this data-driven revolution, we will have to migrate the control and ownership of Indian data back to India ─ in other words, Indian wealth back to every Indian,” he said.
Mr Ambani credited for this pioneering initiative of global summit, and its subsequent replication, to ”proud son of Gujarat…Prime Minister Narendra Modi”.
”He is the visionary leader of India.And he is Shri Narendra Modi, our beloved Prime Minister, under whose leadership,India is the fastest growing economy in the world,” he said.Mr Ambani said in comparison to the past decades, Reliance will double this investment and employment numbers over the next ten years.
”Reliance’s new business model will move away from concentrated investments in a few locations to much larger investments in a distributed manner all across Gujarat,” he said, adding that Gujarat will thus act as a model not just for India but for the entire world.
He talked about Reliance’s five initiatives that align with Gujarat’s future developmental model which will contribute significantly to Mr Modi’s inspiring vision of ‘Ease of Living’ for every citizen.
”First: Jio is committed to creating a fully Digital Gujarat and make Gujarat the best Digitally Connected State in India,” he said, adding that this network already connects the entire state to the global Information highway.
”This means connecting: Every home and office; Every school and college; Every hospital and doctor;
Every mandi and market. And Jio’s network is fully 5G ready; which means Gujarat will continue to remain on the forefront of digital connectivity for years to come,” he said.
The second mega mission for India, which he will first roll out in Gujarat, is Jio and Reliance Retail will launch a unique New Commerce platform to empower and enrich 12 lakh small retailers and shopkeepers in Gujarat – which are part of over 3 crore community in India, Mr Ambani said.
Third, he said, scientists and engineers have created highly promising innovations in the new ‘Oil to Chemicals’ strategy at Reliance’s Jamnagar refinery, which is the largest in the world.
”Fourth: Pandit Deendayal University, or PDPU, here in Gujarat has today over 5,000 students.In a short time, PDPU has emerged to be amongst the top universities in Gujarat. The Reliance Foundation has committed an investment of Rs 150 crore to make PDPU even stronger and an institution of international repute,” he said.
The Fifth initiative was the Reliance Foundation, which is present in all districts of Gujarat – and thousands of villages in other states in India – has demonstrated how India can move away from Rural Distress to Rural Progress, he said.