India is on its way to becoming 3rd richest country, says Ambani

Having missed the first three industrial revolutions, India is now in a position to lead the fourth on the back of its vast tech-savvy young population and is on the way to becoming one of the three richest countries in the world, billionaire Mukesh Ambani said Tuesday.

Speaking at the 24th MobiCom conference here, Ambani, who heads Reliance Industries, said India's digital transformation is "unmatch and unprecedented" after it took leadership position from being 155th in wireless broadband technology adoption in just 24 months.

Back in the 1990s, when Reliance was building its oil refinery and petrochemical projects, India's gross domestic product (GDP) was around $350 billion and had just come out of a severe financial crisis. "Very few in the world thought that our country's prospects were bright. Today our GDP is nearing $3 trillion, and India is well on its way to becoming one of the three richest countries in the world," he said.

Ambani, the richest Indian, said mobile computing as a catalyst is driving massive data consumption – and this has given young Indians a fertile ground for disruptive ideas. Cloud computing and networking technologies have used broadband as a foundational enabler – leading to Indian entrepreneurs starting to make a global impact.

"In the next two decades, I can confidently say that India shall be leading the world and shall contribute to the next wave of global economic growth," he said. India languished on the fringes during the first two industrial revolutions powered by coal and steam and electricity and oil, respectively, and only started playing catch-up in the computer-driven third industrial revolution, he said.