MUMBAI: Reliance Industries chairman and managing director Mukesh Ambani said on Wednesday that the startup ecosystem is the aspect of India's growth story that excites him the most.
Speaking at a JioBlackRock MF’s fireside chat with BlackRock chief executive Larry Fink here, he said, “The startup industry excites me the most. I can clearly see a 100 new Reliances.”
Ambani said India's economy has reached a stage where growth is visible, durable and broad-based, and is marked by long-term reforms and structural stability.
“India, and the tree of the Indian economy, is bearing fruit with great visibility, with sustainability and abundance,” he said.
Attributing this phase of growth to long-term, consistent policymaking, and a conservative and disciplined economic approach over the years, he said, “We’ve also had policy that was sustainable. We’ve had continuity in policy. We have also been conservative”.
Ambani also said he wants JioBlackRock AMC to turn the decades-old savings into long-term earnings, saying our long-standing culture of savings has not translated into productive wealth creation, opening up the opportunity for JioBlackRock to help channel household savings into investments.
He said the core opportunity for Jio BlackRock lies in encouraging a shift in household behaviour -- from simply accumulating savings to participating more actively in capital markets -- by offering accessible and credible investment avenues.
“We have saved consistently over the last five or six decades, but that has not been productive,” Ambani said, adding the core opportunity for the company lies in encouraging savers to become investors and offering them avenues to convert idle savings into income-generating assets.
“For us at Jio-BlackRock, the opportunity is to encourage Indians to save and give them the option to convert those savings into earnings,” he said, adding this transition requires preserving our savings mindset while moving away from what he described as a deficit-driven approach, arguing that broader access to investment opportunities should become a basic expectation rather than an exception.
Ambani also highlighted a shared philosophy between Reliance and BlackRock, recounting a conversation with Fink on the broader purpose of capital allocation.
“The purpose of BlackRock is not just to make short-term results or even returns for investors and shareholders. If that money is not put to work first for the betterment of society, then the job is not done. That is the Reliance philosophy too,” he said.
Meanwhile, at the same event, Fink dismissed fears of an artificial intelligence (AI) bubble, saying, “Underinvestment in the technology carries greater risks even as investors debate whether the trillions of dollars pouring into AI will deliver commensurate returns."
"AI is among the most topical conversations we are having now because it is the most disruptive. AI is going to allow more discovery. The key for AI to be successful is that we need AI to expand and broaden economic success. If we don’t invest in AI now, China will win," Fink said during the fireside chat with Ambani.
"In so many developed economies there are so many deficits. Can AI increase productivity and if so can we increase GDP with a diminishing population, that's going to be the question. I believe that is going to be a profound yes. India is at the nexus of this," added Fink.
Fink further said India is now being viewed differently on the global stage, with international governments and investors increasingly recognising the country’s long-term potential.
“After the budget, we had the European treaty, and the US-India deal,” he said, adding that India is now “setting the foundation for many, many decades” and that “the world is taking notice of India”.
"India is more accepting of technologies than many of the developed countries. It was a wonder to watch the digitisation of the rupee. And so to me, AI is going to be a powerful growth engine in the world," Fink said.
He said he has a message for young Indians, "Believe in your own country, grow with your country."
"We want to invest with the people who have ambition, who have the guts to do things that break the mold and that changes society like Ambani," Fink further said.