Mark Zuckerberg and Mukesh Ambani’s speech at a Facebook live event gave many insights about how India is a place of power, potential and promises.
“It is not in India’s DNA to be deterred by a crisis. A crisis is too precious to precious to be wasted. Every crisis presents an opportunity for new growth, and India has faced covid crisis with enormous resilience and resolve” said Mukesh Ambani, Chairman, Reliance Industries.
He said that during his conversation with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg at the live FB event called ‘Fuel for India’ on Tuesday.
Zuckerberg asked Mukesh how India is doing now after the impact of the pandemic, and Mukesh said that while India is not as rich as its western counterparts, being fiscally prudent, the Central Government takes care of vulnerable.
He shared with Mark how the Government has provided around 800 million free food (ration) till December 2020, 200 million people received direct cash transfer through their bank accounts. And now, India is ready to roll out one of the largest vaccine programs at the first-half of 2021.
Mukesh discussed with Mark how the digital revolution is taking place in India. He highlighted how Jio platforms are at the forefront of the change. The connectivity that is present in today’s world have enabled the concepts ‘work from home’, ‘Study from Home’, ‘Tele-medicine’, ‘Tele-consultation’ etc.
Ambani said “I wonder if the pandemic had struck India just four or five years earlier, we would not have been in a good a shape as what we are today,” He credited Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his Digital India vision for this positive change.
This ‘Facebook Fuel for India’ is a program that will celebrate stories of hope, passion, and resolve that is unique to India. Several change makers in society are sharing their and their initiative’s story.
Many speakers spoke on the inaugural, and shared how businesses (small and big) are transforming, the people are coming together to bring a difference and how people are finding new opportunities with the power of connections.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said “Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Digital India vision has opened up opportunities for the industry to partner with the Government to accelerate growth and development through technology”
Mark said that there is a very (nice) entrepreneurial culture here that is quite remarkable. It is a great example of how access to better technology can unlock more opportunity for people, and we see that not just in the tech start-up scene but millions and millions of small businesses that recognize this value that these tools can provide.
He added “Small businesses here will be a key part of the global economy going forward, and FB is focused on rebuilding best tools for them.” He stressed “We are in the business of serving small businesses”.