Mukesh Ambani Asias richest man has launched businesses that have transformed entire sectors and arguably the entire Indian economy but perhaps none more impactful than Reliance Jio-- the countrys largest telecom provider which completely overhauled Indias telecom market by essentially launching the digital revolution that has helped internet and digital services to reach the remotest corners of the country. But Jio was more than another business venture for Mukesh Ambani as the Reliance Industries Chairman had bet everything on the success of his telecom service which aimed to revolutionize Indias telecom sector and leave a positive impact on common Indians helping ease their lives by providing cheap mobile internet and free phone calls to any network within the country. Mukesh Ambani reveals riskiest venture In an interview with McKinseys Gautam Kumra Mukesh Ambani described Reliance Jio as his riskiest venture as he invested a whopping $25 billion into the project most of which was his own money. Weve always taken big risks because for us scale is important. The biggest risk we have taken so far was Jio. At the time it was our own money that we were investing and I was the majority shareholder. Our worst-case scenario was that it might not work out financially because some analysts thought India wasnt ready for the most advanced digital technology Ambani revealed. The business tycoon said he had told the board that its okay if the returns arent substantial because it was his own money. I told them that as Reliance this will be the best philanthropy that we will have ever done in India because we will have digitized India and thereby completely transformed India. However the Mukesh Ambanis gambit paid off in a big way as Reliance Jio not only emerged as Indias largest telecom provider but transformed the countrys entire digital space with its affordable internet prices and pocket-friendly tariff plans that essentially triggered a price war in the telecom sector and forced other players to adapt or perish. Currently Reliance Jio has an estimated market cap of nearly five times the initial investment made by Mukesh Ambani. How Mukesh Ambanis Jio gambit paid off? Notably before Mukesh Ambani launched Jio the Indian telecom market had nearly a dozen telecom providers with Sunil Mittal-owned Bharti Airtel-- Jios main competitor-- owning a 25 percent market share and the smallest five providers accounting for about 21 percent. However within a short span after its launch Reliance Jio owning to its competitive pricing forced out most of smaller competitors leaving just three main players in the telecom market. Mukesh Ambani credits the idea behind Jio to a business advice his legendary father Dhirubhai Ambani once gave him. My father used to say that if you want to start a business to be a billionaire you are an idiot; you will never get there. If you want to start a business to impact a billion people then you have a good chance of success and as a by- product you can make a reasonable amount of money Ambani revealed.