FB News

Family business leader calls for India's generation shift

By Giulia Cambieri

Mukesh Ambani, the second-generation chairman of Indian family-controlled conglomerate Reliance Industries, has urged for a generational change in India’s leadership and asked the government to accelerate reforms to meet the demand of the country’s private sector.

“We’ve had a history where we think that responsible jobs can only be done by 60-year-olds,” he said during a panel discussion at the India Economic Summit 2011, a conference organized by the World Economic Forum.

“I think we’re now fast moving toward a situation where a 40-year-old can take more responsibility and perform better,” he added.

The 54-year-old businessman, whose net worth of approximately $27 million (€19.8 billion) makes him India’s richest man, also said that the government should implement reforms to help the young population develop the country’s economic potential.

Sixty-five percent of Indians are below the age of 35.

“A lot of people think that India is a land of problems. I really think that India is a land of billion opportunities and not a billion problems,” he said.

Together with his brother Anil, Ambani inherited his father Dhirubhai's Reliance Group after his death in 2002. However, three years later the pair decided to split the company into two separate conglomerates, with Mukesh controlling Reliance Industries and Anil at the head of Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group. 

Top Stories