As India searches for a homegrown contender in the global artificial intelligence race, billionaire Mukesh Ambani is positioning Reliance Industries as a national champion, rolling out AI services for phone calls, mobile apps, and connected homes.
At its annual shareholder meeting on Friday, the Mumbai-based conglomerate declared Jio Call Agent, an AI assistant that could be join phone calls to transcribe conversations, generate summaries, and carry out tasks which includes booking cabs, ordering meals, and making reservations. The service, which may be activated by saying “Hey Jio,” is anticipated to release later this year for Jio’s more than 500 million users.
By integrating the service directly into its telecom network instead of giving it as a stand-alone app, Jio is betting AI assistance can become a native feature of phone calls. The approach ought to lessen clients’ reliance on third-party call-assistant apps and give Reliance a powerful distribution benefit in an increasingly crowded AI market.
Reliance also revealed an AI-powered version of its MyJio app which can carry out tasks on behalf of users, from activating eSIMs to choosing roaming plans, via natural-language requests. The company similarly released TeleFrame, a home show that uses AI agents to proactively surface information and suggestions, such as weather alerts, schedules, and household reminders. The product seems to echo a wider industry push toward ambient AI assistants for the home, an area being explored via companies which includes Amazon and Google.
The declarations signifies the next phase of Reliance’s AI ambitions as India seeks to build domestic capabilities in a field widely dominated via U.S. And Chinese technology companies. The push follows the release of Reliance Intelligence last year, through which the conglomerate goals to develop AI infrastructure and services for customers, businesses, and governments, which include applications that help 22 Indian languages.
“India should not be a mere consumer of AI created elsewhere. It much become a creator, adopter, and a global leader in AI,” Ambani, age 69, said.
Reliance has been scaling up its AI ambitions through partnerships with Google, Meta, and Nvidia. Earlier this year, the company declared plans to invest $110 billion in AI infrastructure as it intends to establish itself as a major player in India’s rising AI ecosystem.
At the shareholder meeting, Reliance also showed a suite of AI services for healthcare, education, agriculture, and small businesses. The products, branded JioHealthIQ, JioLearnIQ, JioKrishiIQ, and AI Vyapar, are designed to function across multiple Indian languages and cater to local needs, the company stated.
The shareholder meeting also introduced a major development for investors awaiting Jio’s stock market debut. Ambani stated Jio Platforms’ board had authorized a draft prospectus for an initial public providing that would include a fresh issue of as much as 270 million shares, as per inventory exchange filing.
The declarations also raise questions on how Reliance will handle with user data because it broaden AI services across phone calls, mobile apps, and related homes. While the company stated that the services would operate with user consent, it did not answer questions about whether data generated through the products used to train AI models or shared with technology partners.
Reliance’s AI targets come as Indian companies stay closely reliant on foreign AI models and cloud providers. Current restrictions on access to a some of Anthropic’s latest models have underscored that reliably, demonstrating how decisions made overseas can effect on startups and businesses building AI products in India — the kind of supply-chain risk that’s pushing Indian conglomerates in the direction of building their own stack instead of renting a someone else’s.
Last week, Reliance declared a collaboration with Meta to establish an AI data center in the western state of Gujarat, forming on Meta’s earlier investment in Jio Platforms and a joint project released last year to broaden AI solutions for enterprise customer in India and overseas markets.
Reliance isn’t alone in seeking AI opportunities. Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, and rival Adani Group have also broadened their AI ventures and partnerships with global players, together with Anthropic, Google, and OpenAI, as India’s largest corporations race to stable a leading role in the nation’s AI future.
Nonetheless, for Reliance, the stakes are mainly high; it’s gearing up Jio for an long-awaited stock market debut and requires new growth drivers, with the conglomerate’s shares down about 17% this year.
