Digital
Mukesh Ambani pledges Rs 10 lakh crore to power India’s AI rise
From data to intelligence, Reliance bets big on an AI revolution
NEW DELHI: Billionaire Mukesh Ambani on Thursday unveiled a jaw-dropping Rs 10 lakh crore investment plan to catapult India into the artificial intelligence era, promising to transform the country’s digital landscape much like he did with mobile data.
Speaking at the India AI Impact Summit, Ambani painted a vision of “super abundance” powered by AI. “Artificial Intelligence is not just another technology. For the first time, humans are creating systems that can learn, speak, analyse, move, and produce autonomously,” he said. Drawing a vivid analogy, he added, “I see AI as a modern-day Akshay Patra, the legendary vessel in the Mahabharat that provided endless nourishment. Likewise, AI offers limitless augmentation in knowledge, efficiency, and productivity.”
Ambani outlined a stark fork in the global AI road. “One path leads to scarce, expensive AI and controlled data, the other ensures AI is affordable and accessible,” he said. “India cannot afford to rent intelligence. We will reduce the cost of intelligence as dramatically as we did the cost of data.”
The Reliance chairman highlighted Jio’s role in building the country’s digital backbone, pointing out that India is the world’s largest mobile data consumer, with nearly 1 billion internet users enjoying some of the lowest costs globally. “In terms of quality, there is no difference between Delhi and the remotest Indian village,” he said.
Jio Intelligence will spearhead the plan with a three-pronged approach. Gigawatt-scale data centres are already under construction in Jamnagar, with 120 megawatts expected online in the second half of 2026, paving the way for large-scale AI training. A green energy advantage of up to 10 gigawatts of surplus power, anchored in solar plants in Kutch and Andhra Pradesh, will fuel the AI push sustainably. Finally, a nationwide edge compute layer integrated with Jio’s network will make AI responsive, low-latency, and affordable for citizens across India.
Ambani concluded with a bullish note on India’s strengths. “No country can match India’s strength in demography, democracy, development, digital infrastructure, data generation, and AI harvest,” he said. With 1.4 billion Aadhaar IDs, over 12 billion monthly UPI transactions, and a booming startup ecosystem of over 100,000 ventures including more than 100 unicorns, India is poised to emerge as a global AI powerhouse.
The Rs 10 lakh crore investment will roll out over seven years, starting this year. Ambani stressed that this is “not speculative investment. It is patient, disciplined nation-building capital,” signalling a long-term vision that promises to place India firmly on the global AI map.
Digital
Content India 2026 opens with a copro pitch, a spice evangelist and a £10,000 prize for Indian storytelling
Dish TV and C21Media’s three-day summit puts seven ambitious projects before an international jury, and two walk away with serious development money
MUMBAI: India’s content industry gathered in Mumbai this March for Content India 2026, a three-day summit organised by Dish TV in partnership with C21Media, and it wasted no time making a statement. The event opened with a Copro Pitch that put seven scripted and unscripted television concepts before an international panel of judges, and by the end of it, two projects had walked away with £10,000 each in marketing prize money from C21Media to support development and international promotion.
The jury, comprising Frank Spotnitz, Fiona Campbell, Rashmi Bajpai, Bal Samra and Rachel Glaister, evaluated a shortlist that ranged from a dark Mumbai comedy-drama about mental health (Dirty Minds, created by Sundar Aaron) to a Delhi coming-of-age mystery (Djinn Patrol, by Neha Sharma and Kilian Irwin), a techno-thriller about a teenage gaming prodigy (Kanpur X Satori, by Suchita Bhatia), an investigative crime drama blending mythology and modern thriller (The Age of Kali, by Shivani Bhatija), a documentary on India’s spice heritage (The Masala Quest, hosted by Sarina Kamini), a documentary on competitive gaming (Respawn: India’s Esports Revolution, by George Mangala Thomas and Sangram Mawari), and a reality-horror competition merging gaming and immersive fear (Scary Goose, by Samar Iqbal).
The session was hosted by Mayank Shekhar.
The two winners were Djinn Patrol, backed by Miura Kite, formerly of Participant Media and known for Chinatown and Keep Sweet: Pray & Obey, with Jaya Entertainment, producers of Real Kashmir Football Club, also attached; and The Masala Quest, created and hosted by Sarina Kamini, an Indian-Australian cook, author and self-described “spice evangelist.”
The summit also unveiled the Content India Trends Report, whose findings made for bracing reading. Daoud Jackson, senior analyst at OMDIA, set the tone: “By 2030, online video in India will nearly double the revenue of traditional TV, becoming the main driver of growth.” He noted that in 2025, India produced a quarter of all YouTube videos globally, overtaking the United States, while Indians collectively spend 117 years daily on YouTube and 72 years on Instagram. Traditional subscription TV is declining as free TV and connected TV gain ground, forcing broadcasters to innovate. “AI-generated content is just 2 per cent of engagement,” Jackson added, “highlighting the dominance of high-quality human content. The key for Indian media companies is scaling while monetising effectively from day one.”
Hannah Walsh, principal analyst at Ampere Analysis, added hard numbers to the picture. India produced over 24,000 titles in January 2026 alone, with 19,000 available internationally. The country now accounts for 12 per cent of Asia-Pacific content spend, up from 8 per cent in 2021, outpacing both Japan and China. Key exporters include JioStar, Zee Entertainment, Sony India, Amazon and Netflix, delivering over 7,500 Indian-produced titles abroad each year. The top importing markets are Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, the United States and the Philippines. Scripted content dominates globally at 88 per cent, with crime dramas and children’s and family titles performing particularly strongly.
Manoj Dobhal, chief executive and executive director of Dish TV India, framed the summit’s ambition squarely. “Stories don’t need translation. They need a platform, discovery, and reach, local or global,” he said. “India produces more movies than any country, our streaming platforms compete globally, and our tech and creators win international awards. Yet fragmentation slows growth. Producers, platforms, and tech move in different lanes. We need shared spaces, collaboration, and an ecosystem where ideas, technology, and people meet. That is why we built Content India.”
The data, the pitches and the prize money all pointed to the same conclusion: India is not waiting for the world to discover its stories. It is building the infrastructure to sell them.
