FILE PHOTO: Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella speaks during, 'An Insight, An Idea with Satya Nadella session', at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2020 in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland. (Photo)(
- Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella began his three-day India trip from Mumbai where he engaged with chief executives of Indian companies on the future of technology.
- Nadella had a separate fire-side chat with Asia's richest man Mukesh Ambani, the Chairman of one of India's largest conglomerate, Reliance Industries.
- The following are the highlights of the conversation between two of the world's tallest corporate leaders.
Satya Nadella, Microsoft
Mukesh, I thought, perhaps, we could start.. I have heard you speak very passionately about just India's potential. What can the next ten year's represent? How the Indian economy can grow? How digital will be a part of it? Share your thoughts on how this economy will thrive in the next ten years.
Mukesh Ambani, Reliance
Absolutely! Before I answer that Satya, a very warm welcome to India and Mumbai. And I can tell you that I wanted to warmly congratulate you on your leadership and the transformation, and the success of Microsoft over the last many years. I think every Indian is very, very proud.
(crowd applauds)
Ambani: What I admire about, and what I learn, in your leadership style, what you have demonstrated that if you have empathy, if you rely on partnerships, if you build trust and relationships, if you think about every mistake as a learning opportunity, and if you believe that it is not product or profits but its people and the reinvention of their capability, that is the strength of the organisation. I think all of us in India Inc are very inspired. Thank you for all your leadership.
Personally, I am very committed and I am very privileged Satya that you have committed to India on a scale that I never anticipated that a multinational will. I am very excited about the partnership that Jio and Microsoft will have and I think that, that will be, as we look at this decade, that will be a defining partnership.
Nadella: Thank you
(crowd applauds)
Ambani: Now, let me answer your question.
As we are speaking, President Trump has arrived in India. The India that he will see in 2020, will be very different from the one that President Carter saw or Clinton saw, or even (the one that) Obama (did).
We have millions of people on the street, each one having their own personal experience with their phones, and the network is strong enough. I can easily say that the mobile networks in India are better or at par with anybody else in the world. That's the big change.
Nadella: That's amazing!
Ambani: (continues) When he reaches the (Motera) stadium, and you talked about the stadium, and the digital infrastructure in that stadium is better than any other place in the world. That is the India as we start in 2020.
If you then even think about your own journey. When you think about 1992, when you joined Microsoft, India (economy) was $300 million, today it is $3 trillion
Nadella: Yeah!
Ambani: Fundamentally, this whole progress in a certain way has happened on the back of technology. In the early days, it was Rajesh's TCS and Infosys, and all of them who drove technology in India that really kickstarted, with all the economic reforms, this whole growth paradigm.
It was supercharged in 2014 when Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) gave us the vision of Digital India. If you then see what followed, and I was again privileged to play a very small role with the launch of Jio.
Just to share with you and the audience, pre-Jio, we had 256 kbps, which we called broadband in India, and post Jio 21 mbps on mobile data as the average speed available in every single village in India.
Nadella: That's amazing!
(crowd applauds)
Ambani: Pre Jio, the price of data was between 300 and 500 rupees. And for the poorest of poor, who use 2G, the price was as high as 10,000 rupees a GB. Post Jio, the price is between Rs 12 and Rs 14 a GB.
What Jio has achieved in the last three years is, 380 million people have migrated to the Jio 4G technology. That tells you the enthusiasm in the youth of India, the enthusiasm in consumption in India, and the enthusiasm even in my mother who is 85 years old and the amount of time she spends, and in your language, she has the greatest tech intensity and adoption.
(Nadella laughs)
Nadella: What can you do for small business and medium businesses? What I talked about, how can we combine it with your expertise to completely change the landscape.
Ambani: Reliance was founded as a startup, my father started it with a table and chair. Then it became a small industry, then a medium one, and today's it's a large enterprise.
I knew Bill(Gates) from the Stanford days even before...
Nadella: (laughs) There must be something in the air. Both of you dropped out.
Ambani: That is the crux. The entrepreneurial power that is there is the grassroots is enormous.
Nadella: How have things changed since the time your father started?
Ambani: The question in front of us that can we build a digital society that can help everyone achieve their true potential. All of us have to work towards that.
The India that future generations will see will be nothing like the one you and I grew up in.
Nadella: In the next decade, you may become a gamer?
Ambani: (laughs) that is difficult. Akash is very excited. Gaming barely exists in India. For some of us who are not gamers, it is difficult to imagine that it will be bigger than music and movies put together.
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