US will be energy independent in 5-7 years, opines Ambani.
Bureau Report
NEW YORK: The global economy will see a recovery this year, starting with the United States, said Mukesh Ambani, Chairman, Reliance Industries, and India’s wealthiest individual, in his first interview in 10 years, speaking to Fareed Zakaria for his weekly news program GPS on CNN.
Asked what he thinks of the global economy five years after the financial crisis began, Ambani said: “Well, I’m more optimistic than most. And, my view is that this year, we will see the beginning of a recovery, particularly in the U.S.â€
Expanding on his opinion, Ambani said: “There has been a fundamental transformation in the energy scene in the US. For many decades, we have heard that the U.S. will be independent of foreign imports of energy. Realistically, I can now tell you that it is my judgment that this will happen in the next five or seven years, The U.S. has truly found non-conventional energy in shale oil and gas which is really, really bringing benefit not only to the population in the U.S., but, really, to across the world.â€
When asked by Zakaria, if he thinks in the next 10 or 15 years, the costs of solar energy will come down dramatically, Ambani said: “Absolutely. I think so. And I think that, ultimately, the way I think about energy is that we will transit from what I call a hydrocarbon present, which is coal, oil and natural gas, over the next many decades, into a fully renewable, sustainable future. And solar really will be at the heart of it.â€
In the interview conducted at Ambani’s palatial house in Mumbai, he also said he was bullish on India’s growth.
“India has had some slow growth, but I’m really very optimistic on India,” he said. “I’m very bullish on India, because it’s really the aspirations of a billion people. And ours is a country where all the billion count. We are on a long-term growth trajectory. And this is just not growth in terms of GDP numbers,
India’s economic growth rate is feared to decline to a 10-year low of 5 per cent in the current fiscal to March, dragged by poor performance of manufacturing, agriculture and services sector, but Ambani is upbeat on future prospects of the country.
“My father started Reliance with $100. When I joined in 1980, the market value of Reliance was $30-40 million and in 30 years the opportunities that were provided by this country have enabled us to create wealth for India,” he said.
On China, Ambani said: “China is maintaining steady growth. It’s not decelerating. Europe has found its own transition path, and they will transgress through the financial system in an ordinary way.”