On February 19, 2026, during the India AI Impact Summit in New Delhi, Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani announced a monumental ₹10 lakh crore ($120 billion) investment plan over the next seven years.
This initiative, led by Jio and Reliance Industries, aims to transition India from the “internet era” to the “intelligence era” by building a sovereign, world-class AI infrastructure. Ambani famously stated that “India cannot afford to rent intelligence,” pledging to make AI as affordable and accessible as Jio made mobile data in 2016.
The Three Pillars of “Jio Intelligence”
The ₹10 lakh crore investment is structured around three core technological initiatives:
- Gigawatt-Scale Data Centers: Reliance has already begun construction on multi-gigawatt AI-ready data centers in Jamnagar. The first 120 MW of capacity is scheduled to come online in the second half of 2026, providing the foundation for massive AI training and inference.
- Green Energy Surplus: To power these energy-intensive data centers sustainably, Reliance will leverage up to 10 gigawatts (GW) of ready green power, primarily from its massive solar projects in Kutch and Andhra Pradesh.
- Nationwide Edge Compute: A distributed “edge” compute layer will be integrated directly into Jio’s existing 4G/5G network. This will bring low-latency AI processing close to where users live and work, ensuring high performance even in remote villages.
Strategic Objectives: “Jio AI Bharat”
Beyond infrastructure, the investment targets population-scale impact through localized services.
| Feature | Objective |
| Jio AI Bharat | A multilingual AI platform designed to work across all major Indian languages for students, farmers, and artisans. |
| Sovereign Compute | Ensuring that India’s data and AI models are hosted and trained locally to maintain digital sovereignty. |
| Affordability | Aiming to reduce the cost of AI tokens and “intelligence” to the lowest levels globally. |
| Sectoral Impact | Deep-tech applications for agriculture, healthcare, and advanced manufacturing. |
Key Quotes from the Announcement
“Jio connected India to the internet era. Jio will now connect India to the intelligence era… This is not a speculative investment. It is not for chasing valuation. This is patient, disciplined, nation-building capital.”
“I see AI as a modern-day Akshaya Patra—the legendary vessel that provided endless nourishment. Likewise, AI offers limitless augmentation in knowledge, efficiency, and productivity.”
Economic Context
This announcement follows several other major AI-related moves by Reliance in early 2026:
- Jio-BlackRock Expansion: A separate roadmap for 2026 to launch AI-driven “systematic investing” funds.
- Jio IPO Buzz: Market reports suggest a potential Jio Platforms IPO in the first half of 2026 with a projected valuation of ₹10–12 lakh crore, which would provide further capital for this seven-year roadmap.
