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New Delhi: Mukesh Ambani expects the Indian economy to outpace China to become the world's fastest growing in two years, but the country needs "mature governance" to tackle infrastructure issues.
He said businesses are upbeat as a sense of confidence has replaced the feeling of helplessness that prevailed earlier, and the country is lucky that oil prices, a big chunk of India's imports, are much lower this year.
"I clearly see with both inflows and internal stability, we will gradually increase our growth rate and I have no doubt in my mind that we will be the fastest growing economy in the world in the next 2-3 years. We will exceed China's growth rate," he told a private television channel.
He said confidence in India had increased significantly, leading to a desirable change in sentiment.
"I believe for all economies it is confidence, and to my mind, confidence is the most important element. I think what we have got back at the individual level, at the institutional level and the government, the confidence has come back, the spirit of helplessness and what to do, what we can not do, has gone away.I think both internal and external confidence has come back to India," Ambani said.
Commenting on global crude oil prices, the billionaire said 2014 has been a lucky year for the country which depends heavily on imports for its energy needs.
"2014 has been a lucky year for India. If we think about 2004-
2014, oil prices went from $20 to $140 and we now are on the horizons of $60-70. That really is a gift of nearly $35-40bn from what we are used to a year. So, if this continues for two years, it's a gift from the world. Last year, we had paid penalty but going forward it's a gift to us."
Highlighting the problems of infrastructure, Ambani said the government needs to strike a balance in addressing the needs and expectations of stakeholders in infrastructure projects.
"We will have to have a path to what I call mature governance, and the recognition that any investment will need returns, that return has to be fair and transparent.
It has to be fair not only to the investor but also to the users of the infrastructure. For example, I have rail or port service, I should be able to afford the output after giving a fair return, so really it is a three-day partnership between the consumer, what the government wants and what the investor wants."
Ambani said Reliance Industries will be completing investment of .`200,000 crore over the last decade, which will reflect in production in the second half of 2015 and first quarter of 2016. "This itself, in a sense, doubles Reliance.
To double a company of our size in 2-3 years, to my mind, requires focus. We are not going to allow anybody to de-focus."
He said in the retail business, he sees Reliance catering to consumers physically and digitally.
Reliance Industries, which sees its retail business growing by 25-30% every year going ahead, has earlier said that it is keen to tap synergies with Network 18, a broadcasting group it has recently acquired, to explore and expand e-commerce.
"We will see an online-offline world and whoever is able to integrate that in the interest of the customer, if we generate customer value, I believe we will win in the market," Ambani said.
Courtesy : The Economic Times