Today, when many globally reputed universities are facing a crisis, India has the best opportunity to attract back the most talented students and faculties from around the world: Mukesh D. Ambani, hairman and Managing Director, Reliance Industries
FinTech BizNews Service
Mumbai, June 7, 2025: Shri Mukesh D. Ambani (Chairman and Managing Director, Reliance Industries Limited) spoke yesterday 6th June 2025 at the launch of Prof. M. M. Sharma’s biography at the Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai. Here is complete text of the address delivered by him at the event:
Most Respected Prof. Sharma,
Dr. Kakodkar, Prof. J B Joshi, Prof. Yadav, Prof. Bhagwat, Prof. Pandit, family of Prof. Sharma, Vibhu and the whole family who I see sitting here,
Honourable Guests,
My Fellow UDCT-ians,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
A very warm good evening to each and every one of you.
Let me begin by doing the Guru Vandana to all those who taught me at my beloved alma-mater.
Prof. Sharma and Prof. J B Joshi were my professors.
In other cultures, Guru is only a teacher.
परन्तु भारतीय संस्कृति में गुरु ही ब्रह्मा है, गुरु ही विष्णु है, और गुरु ही महेश्वर है।
Therefore, for me, coming to the UDCT campus – I still call it UDCT – has always felt like coming to a sacred temple.
Prof. Sharma, my warm respects to you today as my most respected Guru, my Mentor, and my enduring Source of Inspiration.
Thank you for everything you have done for me.
Aneeta ji,
I join all others in this hall in warmly congratulating you.
It is indeed a Herculean task to chronicle the life of a legend like Prof. Sharma.
But you have done full justice to this mission.
The biography is aptly titled ‘Divine Scientist’.
I am sure it will inspire many generations of students, teachers, entrepreneurs and others in India and around the world.
Let us all give a big hand to Aneeta ji and the publishers of this book for their remarkable achievement.
Friends,
While I can talk about my relationship with Prof. Sharma for a long time, I would like to make only four points today to reflect the immense impact he has had in shaping my life.
First, in the mid-70’s, when I came here as a student, it was not ICT …
It was UDCT…
I had deliberately chosen UDCT over IIT Bombay.
To this day, I remember Prof. Sharma’s very first lecture — and how, listening to him, I felt assured that I had made the right choice from moving to IIT to UDCT.
Soon I realised that Prof. Sharma is an alchemist, not of metals, but of minds.
He has the power to transform curiosity into knowledge, knowledge into commercial value, and both knowledge and value into everlasting wisdom.
He shaped not only my understanding of Chemical Engineering but also my understanding of leadership, responsibility, and service to Society.
Such was his influence on me that the UDCT campus in Matunga became my second home.
Second, among Prof. Sharma’s many evergreen teachings, one that has stayed with me is the principle of “economics of chemistry.”
He taught us not only the magic of molecules, but also how molecules make money and create immense societal value.
A perfect blend of scientific insight and business acumen…
That was Prof Sharma.
And in the 80’s, I called him a Bania Chemical Engineering Professor!
He taught us all to be Banias.
Which is why, even after I graduated and began assisting my father in building Reliance, I continued to consult Prof. Sharma at all steps in building Reliance – big and small.
Third, I also learnt my first lesson in sustainability from him.
As the book says, Prof. Sharma does not like the word by-product; he calls it co-product.
He insists that nothing should be wasted in manufacturing, and everything should be turned into value.
This is how we can create perfect harmony between Economy and Ecology.
And this is how, under Prof Sharma’s guidance, Reliance has achieved maximum backward and forward integration in the value chain.
Sir, we have taken your vision and gone from crude oil to PTA to PET bottle, all the way to Campa Cola to millions of Indian’s homes.
Let me tell you that he never asked for all his consultation for anything in return.
It was only substantial VALUE ADDITION, but ZERO ROYALTY.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Fourth, the book describes Prof Sharma as a selfless Gyaan Yogi and Karma Yogi.
But to me he is much more.
He is also a Yogi of Samruddhi, a Yogi of National Prosperity.
Prof Sharma believes that when SARASWATI and LAXMI work together, no power on earth can prevent India’s emergence as one of the world’s most prosperous nations.
Today, let me share with you one less-known fact about him.
Prof Sharma, to my mind, was one of the quiet architects of India’s economic reforms.
The 1970’s and 80’s was an era of extreme economic scarcity and regulatory shackles.
Like my father Dhirubhai Ambani, he had a burning desire to change Indian industry from scarcity to global leadership.
As the book mentions, I was present in all the meetings between him and my father.
These two bold visionaries believed that science and technology, in alliance with private entrepreneurship, would open the floodgates of prosperity.
They both concluded that the time had come for India to THINK BIG and BUILD WORLD-CLASS MANUFACTURING FACILITIES.
So, the decisions were pretty simple between them and that was also a time that Prof. Sharma was in Delhi.
I still remember him going to the then Petroleum Secretary Lovraj Kumar and the Petroleum Minister to saying that it is stupid for India to reserve Chemical Industry only for the public sector. You should open it up. And he had many such roles in terms of influences with the policy makers to say that
“If you want India to grow, you must allow Indian players to build scale, and get out of the License-Permit Raj, reduce dependence on imports, and compete globally.”
He told them that Brand India must be known across the seven seas.
His voice was so credible and authoritative that they not only listened to him but also accepted his advice
and ideas.
Today, from that work in the 70’s and 80’s, five decades later, we see the results.
India’s chemical industry is now a global force.
For this reason, I say that Prof M.M. Sharma is not only our Guru, but also a Rashtra Guru ─ a Guru of Bharat.
My Fellow Alumni and Students of ICT,
Indian culture places an obligation on every student to repay our debt to the Guru in the form of Guru Dakshina.
So how can we as a nation pay a befitting Guru Dakshina to Prof M.M. Sharma and all the professors that we have?
Let me present four ideas.
First:
We must make India a Deep-Tech Nation and a World Leader in Advanced Manufacturing using AI and other breakthrough technologies.
Our universities, institutions of higher learning and research laboratories should have a strong focus on producing tomorrow’s technologies ─ especially in proteins, enzymes and other areas of chemistry that can cure complex diseases, prolong human life, and create new materials, clean up the environment, and boost productivity exponentially.
My Second Idea:
After the 1990s, the private sector unlocked the potential of India’s economic growth.
Now, it should also unlock the potential of India’s educational development.
Our businesses should get tightly integrated with academia, especially by bringing a problem-solving approach to learning and research.
ICT has shown the way.
Now, the government, industry and the best minds in academia should join hands to transform our universities into world-class institutions.
Today, when many globally reputed universities are facing a crisis, India has the best opportunity to attract back the most talented students and faculties from around the world.
My Third Idea:
Education is not only about creating material and financial value.
As Prof M.M. Sharma’s life teaches us, education is even more about inculcating human values.
He has taught us that the power of character is more important than the power of material wealth.
Character is that intangible wealth that comes with integrity, honesty, humility, empathy and other values rooted in India’s priceless culture.
My Fourth Idea:
Prof Sharma belongs to that rare community of teachers for whom teaching itself is their dharma.
Their passion is to make a difference to the life of humanity.
The word that best captures Prof Sharma’s personality is that he is an INFLUENCER.
The word INFLUENCER has gained currency in recent times in the age of social media.
But Prof Sharma has been an INFLUENCER from the 60’s
He is an INFLUENCER WITH A DIFFERENCE.
Today India has the world’s largest population of youth.
We need tens of thousands of Gurus like him, who can teach our youth to combine Success with Sanskaar.
This combination is necessary to realise the dreams of VIKSIT BHARAT.
And my Fifth Idea, is not an idea, it’s an instruction that Prof. Sharma gives me and when, like he gave to my father, when he tells us something we just listen, we don’t think.
So, he told me “Mukesh, you have to do something big for ICT.”
So, I said “Sir, you tell me whatever you want.”
So, he says “Announce a Rs. 151 crores to ICT on an unconditional basis.”
And I’m very very pleased to announce that for Prof. Sharma.
Dignitaries and Friends,
As I stand before you, my heart is filled with nostalgia.
I am transported back to my student days when I saw great dreams for India.
Today the Star of India is shining bright in the global sky.
So, I’m filled with hope and confidence in India’s future.
So, I will conclude today by telling Prof. Sharma’s grandchildren, all the young people and students in this audience and ICT, what Prof Sharma told me in the late 70’s is even true today.:
Dream Big. Study Well.
Work with Dedication, Discipline and a Spirit of Service.
And Bring Greater Glory and Greatness to India.
The opportunity for India is even greater today than it was 40 years ago.
Thank you.
Jai Hind!
