Mukesh Ambani invokes Mahatma Gandhi to corner foreign cos on data

Gandhinagar: Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) chairman and MD Mukesh Ambani on Friday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take steps against ‘data colonisation’, specially by global corporations, stating that Indian data must be owned by Indians.

Invoking Mahatma Gandhi’s movement against political colonisation, Mr Ambani said that India now needs a new movement against data colonisation. 

“Gandhiji led India’s movement against political colonisation. Today, we have to collectively launch a new movement against data colonisation,” he said here at the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit.

Stressing that in this new world, data is the new wealth, Mr Ambani said, “India’s data must be controlled and owned by Indian people and not by corporates, specially global corporations.”

He further said, “For India to succeed in this data driven revolution, we will have to migrate the control and ownership of Indian data back to India. In other words, give Indian wealth back to every Indian.”

 Later in the day, countering Mr Ambani’s call, Governor, Commonwe-alth of Kentucky, Mr Matthew Griswold, asked Mr Modi “to think in the opposite” in order to realise the tremendous opportunity that lies in Indo-US partnership. 

While stating that it is important to put the people of India first, he said, “It is important to put their opportunity and our opportunity as citizens of the world to trade with one another and exchange ideas.”