MUMBAI: In a rare column on the occasion of 30 years of economic liberalisation, the chairman of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), Mukesh Ambani opined that three decades of economic reforms in India had benefited citizens unevenly, and there was a need for the 'Indian model' of development to focus on creating wealth at the bottom of the pyramid.

Ambani said that India in 1991 showed foresight and courage in changing both the direction and determinants of its economy. "Bold economic reforms helped GDP of $266 billion in 1991 grow by over ten times, and exuded confidence that the country could be on a par with the US and China by 2047." Ambani wrote in the Times of India.

"India transformed from an economy of scarcity in 1991 into an economy of sufficiency in 2021. Now, India has to transform itself into an economy of sustainable abundance and equitable prosperity for all by 2051. In India, equity will be at the heart of our collective prosperity," he wrote further.

He said it was unimaginable, he recalled, that people had to wait for years to get a telephone or a gas connection or that businesses had to seek the government’s permission to buy a computer. 

"The government placed the private sector also at the commanding heights of the national economy, which the public sector had occupied for the previous four decades. It ended the licence-quota raj, liberalised trade and industrial policies and freed up capital markets and the financial sector. These reforms liberated India’s entrepreneurial energy and inaugurated an era of fast-paced growth," he wrote further in his column. 

The road ahead, Ambani said, was not easy, and added, "But let us not be deterred by unexpected and temporary problems, such as the pandemic, or distracted by unimportant issues that dissipate our energies. We have the opportunity, also a responsibility towards our children and youth, to make the next 30 years the best ever in independent India’s history."

"Our greatest advantage lies in India's continent-sized domestic market, which is still largely untapped. Our economy will begin to witness miraculous growth when we create a middle class of one billion people with rising incomes. In demographic terms, this will amount to adding all of the USA and Europe combined to the current size of the Indian market," he added.

To achieve this vision, Ambani said that India has to lead the fourth industrial revolution by speedily deploying its technologies to increase productivity and efficiency of not just large industries and services, but also agriculture, MSMEs, construction, renewable energy and arts and crafts.

"The country should become a nation of innovators," he added in the article.