Interacting with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg at the internet major’s Fuel for India 2020 event, Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani praised PM Narendra Modi for his ‘Digital India’ vision, which inspired and motivated the citizens of India. He said that it was PM Modi’s Digital India initiative which pulled India through this difficult time when the COVID-19 pandemic necessitated everyone to work from home.
“If the pandemic had struck India 4/5 years ago, we would not have been in a shape as good as we are in today, with all the connectivity we have. The credit must go to our PM Modi’s ‘Digital India’ vision which motivated the entire industry to roll out broadband in the first five years of Modi’s tenure,” said RIL Chairman Mukesh Ambani in conversation with Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg at Facebook Fuel for India event.
‘Prime Minister Modi has led India from the front’: Mukesh Ambani
Ambani said that even during the pandemic, this initiative helped India attract the largest direct investment in its history. “I hope the rest of the world learns from Indian policy,” Asia’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani, told the Facebook CEO in a virtual interaction.
Speaking on how under PM Modi’s leadership India geared up to tackle the COVID crisis Mukesh Ambani said: “Prime Minister Modi has led India from the front, and while we are not as rich a country as some of our western counterparts, being fiscally prudent, he has taken steps to take care of our vulnerable. We have given free food for right up to December of this year, to over 800 million Indians. 200 million citizens in India are getting direct cash transfer of ₹1500 in their bank account – that is the digitally connected India. And now we are ready and pretty much at par with the world, to roll out one of the largest vaccine programs in the first half of 2021, under Prime Minister’s leadership.“
“The next few decades will be historic in India’s digital transformation“, said Ambani underlining the power of new generation technologies in upgrading the connectivity across all places in India. He said he firmly believed that within the next two decades India would grow to be among the top three economies in the world.
Mark Zuckerberg says he sees a very promising future in India
Meanwhile, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg also touched upon how Indian organisations are leading the way in digital inclusions for the world. He stated that Facebook also tests a lot of new features in India first, before rolling out globally.
“India is home to the world’s largest communities,” said Zuckerberg. He underlined the demand for people to connect in India, said he sees a very promising future in India.
Speaking on the Facebook-Jio partnership, Ambani told Zuckerberg that “together, we are now a value creation platform for users and businesses”.
In April this year, 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,