Jio Was the Biggest Gamble of My Life: Mukesh Ambani

 

Billionaire Mukesh Ambani has described his decision to launch Reliance Jio in 2016 as the “biggest risk” of his life. Speaking in an interview with the global consultancy McKinsey & Company, Asia’s wealthiest man said that even if the financial failure predicted by many analysts had come true, taking that risk was still worthwhile given Jio’s role in transforming India digitally.

 

Ambani revealed that he personally invested billions of dollars to start Reliance’s 4G mobile network. At the time, some experts had argued that the project would not succeed financially because India was not yet ready to adopt advanced digital technologies.

 

He told his board of directors that the worst-case scenario would be that they would not get adequate returns. “But that was okay,” he said, “because it was our own money.”

Ambani added that Jio has now become India’s largest digital transformation effort. He explained, “Even if it had failed financially, it would have been our most impactful project because it has fundamentally changed India.”

Today, Reliance Jio has over 470 million subscribers, making it the country’s biggest telecom operator.

 

Reflecting on the journey, Ambani said, “I believe that you come into this world empty-handed and you leave it empty-handed. What you leave behind is an institution.”