Addressing the inaugural session of the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2019 on Friday, Mukesh Ambani, Chairman of Reliance Industries, sounded the alarm bell on a new threat facing the country — “data colonisation”.

“Gandhiji had led the movement against political colonisation. Today, we have to collectively launch a new movement against data colonisation. In this new world, data is the new oil. And, data is the new wealth.”

He further asserted: “India’s data must be controlled and owned by the Indian people and not by corporates, especially global corporations. For India to succeed in this data-driven revolution, we will have to migrate the control and ownership of Indian data back to India. In other words, Indian wealth back to every Indian.” On the company’s plans for Gujarat, he said RIL had so far invested nearly ₹3 lakh crore in the State and created over one million livelihood opportunities. Reliance will double this investment and employment numbers in the next 10 years.

New platform for retailers

The company’s new business model will move away from concentrated investments in a few locations to distributed outlays across Gujarat, he said.

Jio is 5-G ready, Ambani said, adding that the company is committed to creating a fully Digital Gujarat and make it the best digitally connected State in the country. Jio and Reliance Retail will launch a new commerce platform to empower and enrich 12 lakh small retailers and shopkeepers in Gujarat, who are part of the country’s over three crore trading community.

Elaborating on the group’s plans, Ambani referred to the innovations at the Jamnagar refinery. He said in view of the emerging electric vehicle ecosystem, Reliance will use hydrocarbons less for making fuel and more for producing high value-added products with a wide range of uses.

He also announced a ₹150-crore investment in the Gandhinagar-based Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya Petroleum University through Reliance Foundation to make the varsity an institution of international repute.

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