If you had been to RIL’s 39th AGM here on Thursday, Mukesh Ambani would have convinced you to simply submit and turn over your digital self to him. That’s his plan , anyway — to give you a smartphone, the network it will run on, the content you will read, watch, download, criticise and share, all at unbelievably cheap rates.
In a speech to shareholders that lasted over an hour-and-a-half, Ambani called this the age of “data-giri”, a phrase no doubt invented by the speech writers to grab headlines. Jio will be “the opportunity for every Indian to do unlimited good things with unlimited data.” “And Jio’s 4G will be real 4G, not the “mostly 2G, sometimes 3G and once-in-a-while 4G” that Indians currently put up with, the Chairman said with a rare flourish.
The humour was followed by a note of caution to his competitors in the business, who currently control the universe of paying customers. “The onus is on incumbent operators not to create unfair hurdles for new operators,” he said, referring to the over 5 crore call failures that Jio customers faced in just the past week when dialling to a competing network’s number. But clearly, the tone indicated he’s ready to fight for the billion phone connections that Indians will soon have.
But he clearly side-stepped the tougher questions that some shareholders posed, particularly with its oil production business. Isn’t it better for RIL to drop its cost recovery argument with the government, one shareholder asked. Another wanted to know about the AP Shah Panel’s report, released on Wednesday night.
Both received vague non-answers from the Chairman, because AGMs are inherently adulatory gatherings, with thunderous applause from shareholders often drowning out the announcements of what else comes free.
Thursday’s was no different for Ambani, his wife Nita and their twins Isha and Akash, both of whom are directors on Jio’s board. And the adulation is duly received.
There were repeated namastes all around from the family, even if sometimes mommy had to nudge the twins into doing them from high up on stage.