‘Not in India’s DNA to be deterred by crisis,’ says Mukesh Ambani in talk with Mark Zuckerberg

Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani on Tuesday said that it was not in India’s DNA to be deterred by a crisis. “The magnitude of the pandemic did startle all of us in India. But I think it’s not in India’s DNA to be deterred by a crisis,” he said.

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While in conversation with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg at the internet major’s Fuel for India 2020, Ambani added that a crisis was an opportunity for new growth. He said that India had faced the COVID-19 crisis with enormous resilience and resolve.

Zuckerberg also lauded Reliance and the policies in India. “We launched WhatsApp Pay in India last month. This was possible because of UPI system and 140 banks which made it easy. India is the first country to do anything like this,” Zuckerberg said.

Earlier this year, Facebook had invested $5.7 billion (Rs 43,574 crore) in the firm that houses Mukesh Ambani’s telecom arm Jio. The deal was a win-win for both Facebook and Jio. It would give Facebook deeper access to India, the second-largest internet market after China.

Facebook already has 400-plus million WhatsApp users in India and the payment offering has opened new doors for them. Also, having a local partner has helped the social media giant in navigating various regulatory issues, including those related to privacy and local storage.