Mukesh Ambani gives his support to the Data Privacy and Cryptocurrency bills

Lending his support to the proposed cryptocurrency and data privacy bills, Mukesh Ambani said that India is on the right track. The chairman and managing director (MD) of Reliance Industries Limited said that India has the right to build and protect strategic digital infrastructure.

"India is putting in place the most forward-looking policies and regulations," he said at the Infinity Forum held on Friday. He called data the ‘new oil’ and stated that the right to privacy of every citizen should be safeguarded. He pointed that India already has a great framework of digital Aadhaar, digital payments and digital bank accounts. 

On the Data privacy bill, the Reliance chairman said, "Data and digital infrastructure is strategically important for India and every other nation in the world. Every country has the right to build and protect this strategic digital infrastructure," 

For safeguarding every citizen's right to privacy, he said, “The right policies and regulatory framework have to be in balance with the country's need to guard data and digital infrastructure.”

He further stated that blockchain is different from cryptocurrency, and that he is a big believer in blockchain technology. He called it "very important for a trust-based, equitable society." 

"Using blockchain, we can deliver unprecedented security, trust, automation and efficiency to almost any type of transaction. It can be used to modernize our supply chains that form the lifeblood of our economies," he added.

On the 5G rollout Ambani said, “India is transitioning from 2G to 4G and with the rollout of 5G next year we are on our way to giving the most advanced digital infrastructures in the world."  He said that the next step is connecting to machines and vehicles which is the Internet of Things (IoT).

The government will introduce the cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, 2021 in the ongoing winter session of Parliament.