Mukesh Ambani puts AI at heart of Reliance’s next growth phase, calls for national self-sufficiency

Reliance Industries Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani on June 19 placed artificial intelligence at the centre of the conglomerate’s next phase of growth, saying India must move beyond consuming technologies developed overseas and build its own capabilities.

Addressing shareholders at Reliance Industries’ 49th annual general meeting, Ambani said AI self-sufficiency should become a national priority alongside energy security and access to critical technologies and minerals.

“In the past, I have spoken to you about the revolutionary power of artificial intelligence. I firmly believe that India should not be a mere consumer of AI created elsewhere. It must become a creator, adopter, and a global leader in AI,” Ambani said.

His comments come as Reliance prepares to scale Reliance Intelligence, the artificial intelligence business it announced last year as a new growth engine for the conglomerate.

“We are entering the execution phase of Reliance Intelligence,” Ambani said, describing its ambition as delivering “AI to everyone, everywhere”.

Reliance Intelligence is being built as an AI infrastructure, platforms and services business, extending the group’s digital ambitions beyond Jio’s telecom and consumer internet operations.

Ambani said Reliance’s technology strategy was also shifting from adopting and integrating existing solutions to developing intellectual property in-house.

“Today, Jio is not merely integrating technology. It is creating original technology,” he said.

Calling on engineers to tackle challenges of national significance, Ambani said Reliance Intelligence would provide them with the resources needed to build large-scale technology solutions.

“We will give you the scale, resources and freedom to solve the most important challenges of our age,” he said.

Ambani linked Reliance’s AI push to a wider need for economic and technological self-reliance at a time of global uncertainty. He said geopolitical volatility had reinforced the urgency for India to reduce its dependence on other countries in strategically important areas.

India, he said, must build domestic capabilities in critical technologies, critical minerals and energy.

“Energy self-sufficiency and AI self-sufficiency must become national missions,” Ambani said.

The focus on Reliance Intelligence signals that AI could emerge as a major pillar of the group’s digital expansion, complementing Jio’s connectivity, cloud and technology businesses.