As India looks for a homegrown competitor in the global artificial intelligence race, billionaire Mukesh Ambani is positioning Reliance Industries as the national champion, launching AI services for phones, mobile apps, and connected homes.
At its annual shareholders meeting on Friday, the Mumbai-based conglomerate announced Jio Call Agent, an AI assistant that can join calls to record conversations, take notes, and perform tasks like booking cabs, ordering food, and making reservations. The service, which can be activated as “Hey Jio,” is expected to be rolled out later this year to more than 500 million Jio users.
By embedding the service directly into its phone network rather than offering it as a standalone app, Jio is betting that AI assistance can become a native feature of phone calls. This approach could reduce consumers’ reliance on third-party mobile apps and give Reliance a powerful distribution advantage in the crowded AI market.
Reliance also unveiled an AI-enabled version of its MyJio app that can perform tasks for users, from activating eSIMs to choosing navigation plans, through natural language requests. The company also introduced TeleFrame, a home display that uses AI agents to display information and recommendations, such as weather alerts, schedules, and household reminders. The product appears to be in line with a broader industry push for AI home assistants, an area being explored by companies including Amazon and Google.
The announcements mark the next phase of Reliance’s AI ambitions as India seeks to build homegrown capabilities in a sector dominated by US and Chinese technology companies. The initiative follows the launch of Reliance Intelligence last year, where the conglomerate aims to develop AI infrastructure and services for consumers, businesses, and governments, including applications that support 22 Indian languages.
“India should not be a mere consumer of AI created elsewhere. It should be a creator, adopter, and global leader in AI,” said Ambani, 69.
Reliance has been expanding its AI ambitions through partnerships with Google, Meta, and Nvidia. Earlier this year, the company announced plans to invest $110 billion in AI infrastructure as it seeks to establish itself as a major player in India’s emerging AI system.
At the shareholders’ meeting, Reliance also unveiled a range of AI services for healthcare, education, agriculture, and small businesses. The products, called JioHealthIQ, JioLearnIQ, JioKrishiIQ, and AI Vyapar, are designed to work in multiple Indian languages and cater to local needs, the company said.
The shareholders’ meeting also brought a big boost to investors who are waiting for Jio’s stock market release. Ambani said the board of Jio Platforms has approved a proposed public offering that would involve a fresh issue of up to 270 million shares, according to a stock exchange filing.
The announcements also raise questions about how Reliance will handle user data as it expands AI services across phones, mobile apps, and connected homes. While the company said the services would work with user consent, it did not answer questions about whether the data generated by the products could be used to train AI models or shared with technology partners.
Reliance’s AI ambitions come as Indian companies remain heavily reliant on external AI models and cloud providers. Recent restrictions on access to some of Anthropic’s latest models have underscored that dependency, showing how decisions made abroad can affect startups and businesses building AI products in India — the kind of supply chain risk that is pushing Indian conglomerates to build their own stack instead of hiring someone else.
Last week, Reliance announced a partnership with Meta to establish an AI data center in the western state of Gujarat, building on Meta’s previous investment in Jio Platforms and a joint venture established last year to develop AI solutions for business customers in India and overseas markets.
Trust is not the only pursuit of AI opportunities. Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, and their rival Adani Group have also expanded their AI initiatives and partnerships with global players, including Anthropic, Google, and OpenAI, as India’s largest companies race to secure a leading role in the country’s AI future.
However, for Reliance, the stakes are very high; preparing Jio for its long-awaited stock market debut and needing new growth drivers, the conglomerate’s shares have fallen nearly 17% this year.
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