In a chat with Facebook CEO Mark Zukerberg on Tuesday, Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani said that India will grow to be among the top three economies in the world in the next two decades and per capita income would more than double. During the internet major’s Fuel for India 2020 event Ambani added that India’s middle-class, which is about 50 per cent of the nation’s total number of households, will grow three to four per cent per year.
“You know, Mark, I firmly believe that in the next two decades, India will grow to be among the top three economies in the world. But more importantly, it will become a premier digital society. It will be a modern society with young people driving it, with young businesses driving it. And our per capita income will go from eighteen hundred – two thousand dollars per capita to five thousand dollars per capita,” he said.
Fuel for India 2020 is the first edition of an annual dialogue built around Facebook’s continuing commitment to India, according to the Fuel for India 2020 website. “Through meaningful exchanges and conversations, we aspire to showcase the most powerful stories of change in India and how we are bringing together our products, programs, and plans to fuel these journeys and India’s progress,” it adds.
Earlier this year in April, Facebook had announced an investment of $5.7 billion (Rs 43,574 crore) in Jio Platforms, the digital services arm of India’s most valuable company.
When Ambani was asked about how Reliance worked out its way during the pandemic, Ambani told Zuckerberg, “The sheer magnitude of COVID-19 pandemic, like everybody else in the world, did startle all of us in India. But then I think it is not in India’s DNA to be deterred by a crisis. I firmly believe that a crisis is too precious to be wasted. Every crisis presents an opportunity for new growth, and India has faced the COVID crisis with enormous resilience and resolve.”
Commenting on Facebook- Jio deal, Ambani expressed, “During the pandemic, India has attracted the largest foreign direct investment in its history. Mark, we have our own example of how Jio and Facebook concluded our partnership right in the middle of lockdown… I have no hesitation in going on record, that it is your investment that set the ball rolling. Not only for Jio, but for the Indian FDI which has been the largest-ever in its history. And the partnership between Jio and Facebook, will actually demonstrate that it is great for India, Indians, and small Indian businesses. And I believe Mark, that our actions will speak louder than words in the coming months and years.”
During the virtual interaction, Ambani further said, “More wealth creation means more employment and more business. And together with our platforms and the tools that we will provide to small businesses and to individual consumers, I believe will drive India to a 5 trillion economy and will make a much more equal India, with more equal wealth growth at the bottom of the pyramid.”
(Feature image source: The Week)
