Donald Trump will see a different India than Clinton or Obama: Mukesh Ambani

Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) chairman and managing director Mukesh Ambani joined Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella on Monday for a chat at the Microsoft Future Decoded CEO Summit where the two business leaders shared their vision for India, reports NDTV.

Ambani told Nadella, "As we are speaking, President (Donald) Trump has arrived in Ahmedabad and the India that he will see in 2020 is every different from the India President (Jimmy) Carter saw or (Bill) Clinton saw when he came or even (Barack) Obama. We are having millions of people on the street with each of them having their personal experience on their phones. The network is strong enough and I can say that the mobile networks in India now are better or at par with anybody else in the world."

Before the chat, Nadella, also outlined the trajectory and goal of Microsoft's products for India. The key message was the potential of the country, and what could represent the next 10 years through Microsoft's focus on this, as the era of smart cloud and smart edge arrives, and how every organization in India can ride this wave.

Nadella said, "Our mission is to empower every person and every organisation on the planet to achieve more."

Showering praise on Nadella, Ambani said, "I wanted to warmly congratulate you on your leadership and the transformation and the success of Microsoft over the last many years, and I think every Indian is very proud."

"What I admire about you and what I learned is that in your leadership style, you have demonstrated your ability to rely on partnerships and build trust and relationships. And you think about every mistake as a learning opportunity. And you believe that it's not products or profit, but really people, and their continuous reinvention of capability. That's the strength of the organization. I think all of us in India Inc are inspired and thank you for all your leadership," he added.

India's digital infrastructure was a point of discussion between the two business leaders. Ambani talked about Digital India, the launch of Reliance Jio and the aim of internet connectivity in every single Indian village.

Ambani also spoke about digital transactions in India and the country's growth story. "Reliance was founded as a startup. My father founded Reliance with a chair and a table and Rs 1,000 five decades ago. It then became a micro industry, then a small and medium industry and now you can say we are large. Every small businessman in India has the potential to become a Dhirubhai Ambani or Bill Gates," he said as the two leaders also discussed the future of gaming and broadband connectivity in India.

Nadella said, "It's the start of a new decade and it's a great opportunity for us to reflect on what happened in the last 10 years and what we can do to proactively shape what happens in the next ten years."

He said there's no question that the last 10 years were tremendous.

"If there's one criticism, I'd say its pretty narrow. Consumer economy is important but it's not the only economy. And if you look at it, the profit derived from all the progress was even more limited... So, when we look out to the next ten years, we need broader productivity, broader cross sectoral impact of digital technology," he added.