Non-Submission of an Assignment Led to the Founding of Jio: Isha Ambani

One dead internet connection, one unsent assignment, and a question that eventually became India’s biggest telecom story. It all began with a failed assignment upload back in 2009-2010, as recalled by Isha Ambani in her address at the Jio IPO media meet. Isha said, ” I tried to submit the assignment, but unfortunately the internet did not work, and I couldn’t submit it. What followed was a conversation about why India should be left behind?“.

The answer to that question, according to her brother Akash, laid in creating a digital technology platform company. That conviction led to the launch of Jio in 2016.

Here are key takeaways from Isha’s address at the Jio IPO Meet.

1. Reliance builds on three pillars

Explaining the Reliance philosophy of building businesses, and how Jio was built, Isha Ambani laid out three principles.

• Long-term perspective: Ideas are backed with a very long-term perspective. At Reliance, the company does not build just for today or tomorrow. It thinks about what is going to come decades from now.

• Scale: For Reliance, she explained, the question to answer when it comes to scale is what type of scale is required to fundamentally change the economics of the industry in which it operates.

• Execution: “To know Reliance is to know that we are a deeply technical company,” she said, adding that execution is very much a hard-coded habit across the entire organisation. According to her, this is what allows Reliance to meet its goals and to stay true to its mission.

2. Financial Prudence

Moving from the philosophy of building businesses to how Reliance handles its finances, Isha Ambani said that financial prudence is embedded in the company’s DNA.

She illustrated this with a commitment made to shareholders. In 2019, her father, Mukesh Ambani, made a commitment to all Reliance shareholders that Reliance Industries would be net debt-free in 2021. Then came the test.

As she put it, 2020 arrived, and COVID came along with it, bringing a global slowdown. Yet, nine months ahead of schedule, the promise was delivered on. “And that is what shareholder commitment means to us at Reliance”, said Isha

3. Two North Stars guide the businesses

Turning to financial performance, Isha Ambani said Reliance steers its businesses towards two North Stars. The first is that the company likes to create and protect fortress-like balance sheets, and the second is that it steers its businesses towards generating compounding free cash flow.

Over the years, she explained, this approach has allowed Reliance to run a compounding cycle of building, investing, scaling, generating cash, and then reinvesting in growth.

“Growth is Life” is the company’s motto, she said, and it is something Reliance has its eyes on constantly.

4. Three generations, one promise

Isha Ambani recalled that in 1977, her grandfather Dhirubhai Ambani took Reliance Industries public, almost 50 years ago, and that since then the company has delivered a 29% annualised return.

She mentioned that for him Reliance was never just a company. It’s a promise that every Indian should have the opportunity to participate in India’s growth, to share in India’s prosperity, and to believe in a better future. She recalled that he would fill football stadiums and inspire thousands with a vision of a stronger, more confident and prosperous India, and that his message was simple but powerful: dare to dream, be fearless, think big, and pursue excellence through relentless innovation.

Three generations later, she, Akash and Anant remain are absolutely married to the motto “Growth is Life,” and they carry forward not only his vision but also the trust of millions of shareholders who believed in it and made it their own.