Reliance Industries’ AGMs have always been elaborate affairs marked by grand announcements, but even by those exalted standards, the pronouncements made on July 15 were mind-blowing, to say the least.
The proclamations were the perfect mood enhancers during these turbulent COVID-19 times when each day seems to be filled with nothing but more depressing news on the economy and business fronts, not just in India but worldwide.
Two announcements at the AGM really stood out.
First, the declaration that Alphabet Inc’s Google unit would acquire a 7.7 percent shareholding in Jio Platforms — the wholly-owned Reliance Industries subsidiary — for $4.5 billion.
Second, that Jio would come up with a 5G solution designed and developed completely from scratch right here in India (yes, you read that right) which the company expects to make available to customers next year.
It is extraordinary that an Indian enterprise has now managed to get two of the fiercest competitors in the technology arena worldwide — Facebook and Google — to set their differences aside to invest in it. Rarely, if ever, has such a thing happened anywhere, and speaks volumes about how Jio is now perceived by marquee brands internationally.
Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani deserves huge credit for being able to secure such an arrangement and, in the process, set a new benchmark in global deal-making. Apart from demonstrating what audacious Indian entrepreneurship can achieve when it set its heart and mind firmly on a goal.
There can be little doubt that the involvement of Google and Facebook in Jio — along with those of the likes of Silver Lake, Vista Equity Partners, General Atlantic, KKR, etc. — would enable Jio to be in a better position to roll out its ambitious plans exactly the way it wishes to.
For a long time, Indians have got conditioned to the fact that any major technology development, including the rollout of 5G technology in the country, would be impossible without the involvement of foreign companies, given our dependence on these entities for equipment, software, etc.
The July 15 announcement that Jio would not rely on outside support for its 5G solution and do everything by itself to realise the ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ (self-reliant India) that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has envisioned is, thus, a welcome development. For, here is a company embarking on possibly one of the world’s largest 5G rollouts on its own steam and confident in its own ability to deliver. There cannot, possibly, be a better example of ‘Make in India’ for India and the world.
However, it is not just the chest-thumping feeling about an Indian company deciding to go it alone on the 5G issue that is significant in Jio’s decision on this issue. What it also proves is that Indian enterprises now have the capability to walk the talk on large infrastructure projects which could make it possible for India to become a global economic powerhouse.
From the perspective of ordinary citizens, it would be good if the Jio's move on 5G could inspire more Indian businesses to think bigger and out of the box, have greater confidence in their own entrepreneurial abilities, and display a willingness to take competition from giant MNCs head-on.
An increase in the number of bolder, innovative, and quality-obsessed wealth-creators living the Indian dream can lead to the transformative changes that could improve the quality of life of 1.3 billion Indians who make up almost 18 percent of the global population.
Sumali Moitra is a current affairs commentator. Twitter: @sumalimoitra. Views are personal.
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Disclaimer: Reliance Industries Ltd., which also owns Jio, is the sole beneficiary of Independent Media Trust which controls Network18 Media & Investments Ltd.
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