Mukesh Ambani says Reliance is 'at the threshold' of a deep-tech shift, from Jio to green energy

Mr Mukesh D. Ambani Addressing audiance at Dr Raghunath Mashelkars book launch

Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh D. Ambani on December 20 said the conglomerate is trying to remake itself into a “deep innovation, deep tech science led company”, crediting scientist Raghunath Mashelkar’s long-running advice on building cutting-edge tech that stays radically affordable.

Speaking at the Mumbai launch of More from Less for More: Innovation’s Holy Grailm co-authored by Mashelkar and Shushil Borde, Ambani said Reliance now has “over 100,000 technical professionals… out of our 550,000 people”, adding that they are “at the threshold” of that shift.

Ambani recalled that Mashelkar had pushed Reliance years ago to become a deep-tech company, but “different from those in advanced countries”. “The formula he suggested was ‘Extreme Affordability’. He called it ‘Gandhian Engineering’,” Ambani said, tying it to Mashelkar’s “MORE from LESS for MORE” mantram producing more using the latest technologies, with fewer resources, to benefit more people.

He cited Reliance Jio as the clearest execution of that idea. “We implemented his advice in Jio,” Ambani said, adding that “Jio laid the foundation of Digital India with extreme affordability of data.”

Ambani also linked the same approach to Reliance’s clean energy push. Under Mashelkar’s guidance, he said, Reliance New Energy aims “to make green and clean energy available in ABUNDANCE, and AFFORDABLE to every Indian,” spanning “green hydrogen to bio-energy to circular carbon”

Beyond business strategy, Ambani used the event to publicly felicitate Mashelkar for his “fifty-four honorary doctorates,” a milestone he joked Mashelkar collected “the way some people collect frequent-flyer miles”. pasted

Ambani described Mashelkar as a rare bridge between India’s scientific and business communities, arguing the country needs “much stronger integration of Indian businesses with Indian universities and research institutions” to become a “deep-tech superpower”.