Amid complaints by physical retailers of predatory pricing by e-commerce firms, and funding for that from overseas, Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani said while this was good for India, there must also be a viable model for both formats to survive and grow.
"I think all consumer are going to consume physically and digitally," Ambani, whose retail arm Reliance Retail is among the biggest in India, told an event hosted by Rhode Island, US-based Brown University here.
"I think, one of the news papers this morning said that Wall Street is subsidizing the e-commerce business. It's a good thing! Wall Street should do that for Indian consumers. But fundamentally, that should also move to a viable model," he said.
"Our own view at Reliance is we'll take that consumer space and each will consume both digitally and physically. We will see an online-offline world and whoever is able to integrate that in the interest of the customer, if we generate customer value, I believe, will win in the market."
In India's retail market valued at around $600 billion, the e-retail segment is pegged at around $4-$5 billion. But this segment is growing exponentially and the impact it generated this festive season with huge discounts and mega sales campaigns have left the physical segment worried.
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During the closed-door event, Ambani was also posed a question by CNBC TV18 on regulatory overhang in India and the tendency to politicise tariffs -- like the delays in fixing gas prices for deep- and ultra-deep water exploration basins, which are areas where Reliance has significant interest.
But the Reliance Industries chairman did not wish to go into specifics.
"I think that we will have to have a path to what I call 'mature governance' and the recognition that any investment will need returns -- that return has to be fair and transparent," he said, adding that fairness must apply to the government, the investor and the user.
"For example, I have rail or port service, I should be able to afford the output, after giving a fair return. So, really, it's a three-way partnership between the consumer, what the government wants and what the investor wants."
On the Indian economy, Ambani said the feeling of helplessness that was haunting at all levels -- individual, institutional and government -- had gone away.
"Confidence has come back. The spirit of helplessness on what to do, what we can't do, has gone away. Confidence is the most important thing. I think both internal and external confidence has come back to India."
Ambani also felt that the Indian economy was back on track to make it the fastest-growing soon.
"The Chinese are slowing down and will slow down further. I clearly see with inflows and internal stability, we will gradually increase our growth rate. I have no doubt in my mind that we will be the fastest growing economy in the world in the next two-three years," he said.
"We will exceed China's growth rate."
