Amid rising concerns about globalisation benefitting the world’s richest more, India’s wealthiest man Mukesh Ambani on Tuesday favoured free market economy and said wealth creation should not be constrained as it is a precursor to the distribution of wealth.
He also asserted that India is ready for fourth industrial revolution and technology innovations, especially with a strong leader like Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as has been proved by the success of the recent demonetization move and the push for digital payments. Sharing the dais with him at a session on fourth industrial revolution here at WEF Annual Meeting, Infosys chief Vishal Sikka also said that demonetization has shown to the world that Indians are ready to adopt new technology disruptions.
“When we talk about fourth industrial revolution, artificial intelligence and other technology disruptions…we (need to be) very careful that we don’t create a bigger divide in the society,” Sikka said.
When asked whether there was a risk of societal disturbances in India, Sikka said the country has tremendous opportunities as it is very technologically advanced and a young nation. Example of demonetization shows that Indians can be adaptive to new things, he added. In reply to a similar question, Ambani said one needs to see in terms of how humanity progresses and how the society progresses.
“At this time we are blessed with a very strong leadership with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. We are a very young country and education needs to transform itself and technology is the best way for that,” Ambani, Chairman of Reliance Industries, said. “For all of this you need a foundation and you need a country and a society to embrace technology. All the components of technology and in particular fourth industrial revolution technology, they are all inclusive,” he noted.
Distribution of wealth is a much easier problem once you have created it, so you should not constrain creation of wealth, Ambani said while favouring free market economic model. According to Ambani, demonetization and move to digital economy can change the country and embracing technology can help a lot. “In last 90 days, we have had a major movement of digital cash and less cash and people have supported it because they feel it is good for their future,” he said.
As part of larger efforts in the fight against black money and corruption, government demonetised old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes on November 8, 2016. On whether globalisation has benefitted top 1 per cent of the population more, Ambani said opportunities are given equally to all.
In this inter-connected world, all must see wealth distributed equally, but for distribution of wealth you will have to create it, he noted. “All of us live in a society and a company must do something for the society’s good. This was something which we decided to do after interactions here at Davos and within our own company,” he said. Sikka said every company needs to ask itself what it is doing for giving back to the society and inclusive technology can be an option for technology companies in particular.
“We must learn to build inclusive technology for everyone and create access in the future,” Ambani said. On what leaders should do differently this year, Sikka said it could be a resolve to bring new technology to everyone and create hundreds of new entrepreneurs. Ambani said last year was about understanding technology of fourth industrial revolution and this year it would be about implementing that.
The challenge would be to understand the basic needs of the people and implementing the new technologies rightly, he added. General Motors’ chief Mary Barra said if the governments and companies work together they can create much better things for the benefit of society. Barra said educating employees in future digital skills will be crucial to prepare for the fourth industrial revolution. Panelists at the session also talked about steps corporations need to take to ensure that there is no mutiny.
Source: dnaindia.com