In a major strategic pivot, Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani has unveiled a draft of the ‘Reliance AI Manifesto,’ an ambitious roadmap designed to transform the sprawling oil-to-telecom conglomerate into an "AI-native deep-tech company." The core objective of the manifesto is to achieve a tenfold, or 10x, improvement in productivity for the group's workforce of over six lakh employees, while simultaneously aiming for a 10x impact on India’s economy and society. Describing artificial intelligence as the "most consequential technological development in human history," Ambani positioned Reliance to lead India’s AI revolution, mirroring the leadership role it took during the country's digital transformation. The overarching motto and stated resolve, or 'SANKALP,' is to deliver "Affordable AI for every Indian, to transform every aspect of the economy and life in India."[1][2][3][4]

The AI Manifesto is a dual-pronged document, clearly split into two complementary parts. Part I focuses intensely on internal transformation, recasting AI not as a mere technological project but as a fundamental new way of operating the enterprise. The strategy dictates a complete overhaul of the organisation, shifting the focus from traditional functional silos to clearly defined outcomes and end-to-end workflows. This internal reorganization is structured around four primary pillars: outcomes, workflows, platforms, and governance, which are designed to ensure human accountability remains at the core of AI-enabled systems.[1][2][5][4] Reliance plans to embed AI and agentic automation deeply into critical processes—such as procure-to-pay, order-to-cash, and plant-to-port—to eliminate repetitive tasks, enhance the speed and quality of decision-making, and remove what it calls "digital breaks."[1][6][4] This internal structural shift is designed to unlock the collective potential of the over 600,000 strong workforce, rather than focusing on job replacement, which the document explicitly states is not the intention.[2][6][7] To drive continuous improvement and execution, the plan advocates for a set of five weekly "flywheels" encompassing real-time data, real-time operations, real-time governance, learning and knowledge, and AI-driven automation, all supervised by human oversight.[5][4]

Part II of the manifesto extends the massive internal ambition to a national mandate, detailing how Reliance will leverage its expansive ecosystem to catalyse India’s broader AI transformation, targeting the 10x impact on society and the economy. This national strategy centers on embedding AI across its diverse businesses, which include Jio's subscriber base of over 500 million, Reliance Retail's vast supply chain and merchant network, the New Energy division, Life Sciences, Financial Services, and Media.[8][2][9][10] Ambani highlighted several national opportunity areas where AI could drive breakthroughs, including green energy solutions, the discovery of new materials, and advances in crucial societal sectors like healthcare, education, and inclusive financial services.[1][9][5] The vision also includes a strong push for technological self-reliance, with calls to explore and develop indigenous AI hardware, robotics, and energy-efficient systems. This emphasis on local capabilities aligns with the broader national goal of strengthening India’s domestic tech prowess.[1][11][10] The group's commitment to delivering 'Affordable AI for every Indian' suggests a strategy similar to how Jio democratized digital access, aiming to make advanced AI accessible and applicable across all economic strata.[8][3][7]

The sheer scale of this initiative signals a significant investment in India’s AI infrastructure and talent landscape. The timing of the manifesto's unveiling aligns with a period of massive capital injection into the Indian data centre ecosystem, with reports indicating a concurrent $60 billion commitment from multinationals toward AI-led data centres in the country.[8] Reliance itself has been active in this space, having recently committed $11 billion over five years, in a joint venture with Brookfield and Digital Realty, to develop 1 gigawatt of AI data capacity in Andhra Pradesh.[8] Furthermore, the group's establishment of the 'Reliance Intelligence' unit, alongside AI partnerships with global tech majors such as Google and Meta, underscores a multifaceted approach to both building foundational infrastructure and sourcing cutting-edge technology for India-focused solutions.[8] The company has put out an open call for all employees to contribute ideas and critique the draft, effectively turning the development of the final manifesto into a group-wide collaborative exercise before its intended finalization.[8][6][10]

The potential implications of a conglomerate the size of Reliance making such a deep commitment to an AI-native operating model are far-reaching. It will undoubtedly accelerate the demand for AI talent in India, setting a new benchmark for corporate digital transformation. For the Indian AI industry, the commitment to 'Affordable AI' could spur innovation in local language models and culturally relevant applications, echoing the impact of Jio’s affordable data pricing. The proposed shift from functional to workflow-based operations, supported by a 12-layer digital functional core blueprint with data as the foundation and AI as the acceleration layer, represents a fundamental re-engineering of the enterprise structure.[6][5][4] Ultimately, this manifesto represents more than just a business strategy; it is a declaration that Reliance intends to be the primary engine driving India's ambition to become a global power in the age of artificial intelligence, linking its corporate growth directly to national societal and economic upliftment.[10][4]