Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director, Reliance Industries was part of the panel of luminaries at RAISE 2020’s inaugural session. He started off his keynote with a nod to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his futuristic initiatives like Digital India, which helped put India on the map for digitization. Digital India, six years ago, was marked as the start of India’s digital revolution and has led the country to this juncture – conducting one of the biggest AI events with more than 50000 participants from 139 countries.

He cited some key statistics, cementing India’s stronghold as a digital first nation:

• Broadband connectivity in 99% of the country, becoming the fourth most networked nation in the world
• #1 in mobile consumption, up from #155
• BharatNet connecting every home and every village in India through an extensive data cable network
• Make In India initiative to make manufacturing affordable, with impetus to develop sensors and hardware in India at practical costs
• High compute infrastructure to support the growth of IoT and AI
• Smart platforms to boost digital productivity and the economy of tomorrow

“All the crucial components are available and ready to go for India to become a digital society.”

Ambani stressed on the need to cultivate intelligent data as it is the sole digital capital to have a competitive advantage in the new world. Along with the power of democracy and demography, India is on the right track to unleash proliferation of digital enterprises, create more jobs and enable new skills to lead the new order. With a data protection law that prioritises the data economy, the time, tools and intent are ready for AI in India.

Artificial Intelligence will enable India to accomplish five key goals: transform India as a high growth economy, propel towards an Aatmanirbhar economy, transform agriculture, dispense high quality healthcare and provide world-class education and skills

A platform like RAISE only elevates the myriad opportunities India has. Despite difficulties brought on by a pandemic like COVID19, Ambani believes India will bounce back and will be future ready, with AI at the forefront of this change to promote sustainability and equitable growth. 

Register for RAISE 2020 here