Contents - Connect-World

Social Development
Socio-economic growth of India in a networked world
by Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director, Reliance Infocomm Limited
Information and communications technology will be central to the networked society. It
will not be only a question of hardware. Ubiquitous communications and social networking
software will facilitate the organisation of social interactions and forge new
communities. As wireless moves ahead, it will redefine how government interacts with
citizens and transform the lives of people in remote areas. Networks will reform the
structure of societies and redefine the business landscape. Technology can propel India
to leadership in a networked world.
Mukesh D. Ambani is the Chairman and Managing Director of Reliance Industries Limited, Indias largest
business house and the first and only private sector company from India to feature in the 2004 Fortune
Global 500 list of Worlds Largest Corporations, Mr Ambani is also the Chairman of Indian Petrochemicals
Corporation Ltd. and a Director of Reliance Europe Ltd. Mr Ambani is currently involved in rolling out
Reliance Infocomm Limited — one of the worlds largest and most complex information and communications
technology initiatives. Mr Ambani is the Chairman of the Foundation for the International Federation of
Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, in Geneva. In India, Mukesh D. Ambani is Chairman of the Board of
Governors of the Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information and Communication Technology, and the
Chairman, Board of Trustees of The Indian Institute of Software Engineering. Mr Ambani is a member of
the Prime Ministers Council on Trade and Industry, the Board of Governors of the National Council of
Applied Economic Research; the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR); and of the Advisory
Council of the Indian Banks Association. Mr Ambani earned his Bachelor of Chemical Engineering degree
from the University of Bombay and an MBA from Stanford University, USA. Mr Ambani is the recipient of
a great many prestigious national and international awards and honours.
The technological revolution currently
sweeping the globe offers
India an exciting opportunity to
bring about a quantum leap in its
developmental journey. It is now
possible for India to join the ranks of
great powers within the span of our
generation.
Technological breakthroughs now
make it possible to banish poverty,
illiteracy and malnutrition from the
lives of all our people. Opportunities
to make all this a reality are knocking
at our doors because we are moving
to a networked world. In such a
world, there will be new forms and
formats of living. This will impact
not just on society, but also business
and polity. Technology will pull
down geographical and political barriers
and close the gaps of time and
space.
Technology will be central to the networked
society. Within technology,
information technology and communications
will be the key. This is simply
because networked societies
depend on the flow of information.
Here again two technologies will play
a key role — the Internet and wireless
communication.
The Internet will be more about connecting
people to people than connecting
people to portals and websites.
It will take the form of a network
of identities and relationships
that transcend corporate or national
affiliations.
On one plane, the creation of new
communities will come about by
associations of shared interests and
goals brought together in the virtual
world. On another plane, new social
networking software would be in
vogue.
Social networking software will mine
web traffic and look for new relationships
to acquire customers. They
would also help analyse patterns of
behaviour among existing communities
to help improve the value of relationships
through, for example, higher
sales. Social networking software
would also optimise the organisation
of social interactions. This could
take the form of shared purchases
and unified articulation of issues.
Globalisation will induce greater collaboration
across borders. The pressure
to increase efficiency and productivity
will force companies to collaborate
like never before. In manufacturing,
different components of
the production process will be located
in different places of competitive
advantage. Such forms of collaborative
manufacturing would spread to
every other sector.
In research, an explosion of knowledge
and greater specialisation will
force science-based collaboration. In
business, a move towards standard
common business processes will
improve efficiency and productivity.
In new initiatives, increasing risks
will entail strategic alliances for risk
mitigation.
New lifestyles will change social
organisation. Family systems will
face the challenge of accommodating
diversity of aspirations.
Migration of professionals within the
country and across borders will create
new nodes for social organisation
in alien territories. Extended life
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