Respected Mohan Bhagwat ji, Honorable Mahendra Singh ji, Honorable Deepak ji, Honorable Rajesh ji, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, greetings to all. It is an honor to be speaking at this distinguished gathering of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh Karyakarta Vikas Varg. I have had the privilege of meeting and interacting with Bhagwat ji on several occasions. In every meeting, his simplicity, humility, and unwavering dedication to nation-building always inspire me. After every conversation, my faith in India's future becomes even stronger. The clarity in his thoughts, the resolve in his determination, and his commitment to serving the country are truly wonderful.
A few days ago, Bhagwat ji told me that to understand the Sangh, one must see it from within. Perhaps this is true. But even from the outside, no one can remain unaffected by seeing this vast organization built with the hard work of its volunteers. 83,000 branches, 60 lakh volunteers, 1 lakh 77,000 service projects, and countless institutions, all working towards a common purpose. This is unprecedented in any society. From pre-independence India to the earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, wars, pandemics, and countless other challenges the country has faced, the RSS has always stood with the nation and society. That, to me, is the enduring strength of the Sangh: a belief that service must grow with purpose, and that nation-building and character-building are lifelong commitments we must make.
Last year, in 2025, the Sangh completed 100 years. 100 years is no small feat. Back in 1925, India was just a fifth of the population we have today. Centuries of slavery may have weakened our self-confidence. But today, India is the world's sixth-largest economy, and we are moving forward very rapidly. Prime Minister Modi ji often speaks of the coming Amrit Kaal, an era that will take India to new heights. This unique confluence of demographic dividends and tailwinds, infrastructure, digital rails, and financial services provides us with an opportunity that comes only once in the lifetime of a nation. Even though these are challenging times, this is India's time.
The world has been caught between the competing ambitions of superpowers. In the last three years, crude oil prices have soared due to wars and then suddenly fallen to reach new highs. Supply chains are under stress for the third time this decade. And finally, AI is at our doorstep. And this AI revolution is likely to transform economies and impact many more people than any other recent technological invention. This global flux has not had equal outcomes, and the challenge for India is that this flux exists at a time when India is said to begin its Amrit Kaal. But the biggest lesson history teaches us is the importance of building national capability and national resilience.
Many may not know, but the flagship company of the Aditya Birla Group, Grasim, was incorporated just 10 days after our independence. It was born at a moment when a young nation was confronting immense uncertainty and scarcity, yet brimming with hope and ambition. My great-grandfather, G.D. Birla ji, saw the disruption caused by partition. When the country was divided, the cotton fields remained in Pakistan. This was a huge challenge for India's textile industry. Rather than accepting dependence as destiny, he saw an opportunity to build capability. He thought it was necessary to build capability. He started the production of man-made fibers instead of cotton. The new thinking of a new country. Today, 80 years after that decision, Grasim is a global leader in building materials, chemicals, and fibers, serving millions of customers and contributing to India's industrial strength.
Self-reliance is not just an economic policy but the foundation of nation-building. There are many similarities between the activities of the Aditya Birla Group and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. We also place great importance on primary and higher education, healthcare, social upliftment, women's empowerment, and skill development. For example, BITS Pilani is one of the country's premier Institutes of Eminence. Every year, about 4,000 students graduate from here and make significant contributions to the nation's development. Also, 65 schools across various provinces of the country are part of our social programs, where about 60,000 students receive quality education. In our schools too, emphasis is placed on personality development. Self-reliance, after all, is about capability. It is about having the confidence to build what a nation needs, the patience to invest for the long term, and the resilience to adapt as the world changes around us. Industry can build a country, it can grow.
I still remember my grandmother often telling me, 'I want you to be an asset to the nation.' My understanding of nation-building has been shaped in large measure by lived experience. It comes partly from observing the actions and choices of previous generations of my family, who believed deeply that corporations should serve a larger national purpose. Companies must connect with a larger national goal. And it comes from the privilege of working in and learning from a diverse range of businesses and sectors over the years. These experiences have reinforced a simple conviction: that the building of enduring institutions like the RSS and the building of a nation are often more closely intertwined than we realize.
The future is built on the foundation of strong industries. Every new construction in India advances the nation. Among the many sectors I have had the opportunity to work in, two in particular, cement and financial services, offer a useful lens through which one could illustrate this idea. They remind us that nations are built through the patient creation of capabilities—physical, financial, and digital—and they show how business, when pursued with purpose and a long-term perspective, can become a powerful force for good.
Let me start with cement. You might be surprised to know that after water, cement is the most used material in the world. That statistic itself tells us how important cement is. Every road connecting society, every home sheltering a family, every school shaping the future, and every factory providing employment—the strength of cement is embedded in the foundation of all these. India today is the world's second-largest producer of cement, with an annual production of nearly 500 million tons. The past decade has been particularly transformative. India's highway network has expanded by nearly 60%, our metro rail network has grown by 350%, and daily road construction has tripled to around 35 kilometers per day. When a country builds at this scale, cement ceases to be merely a material; cement is considered a national development asset. I have had the privilege of witnessing this transformation through our own cement company, UltraTech Cement. In the past decade, UltraTech Cement's capacity has grown from 60 million tons to 200 million tons today. And it is a matter of pride for every Indian that today, UltraTech Cement has become the world's largest cement company. Outside of China, UltraTech's capacity is more than double the cement capacity of the United States. And UltraTech Cement's capacity is greater than the entire capacity of the European Union.
If cement builds the physical foundation of a nation, financial services help build its economic foundations. Whether it's the dream of starting a business, the desire to build one's own home, or the hope for a better future for a child, it all depends on access to capital and financial security. How you access capital and to what extent is very important. Over the last decade, India has witnessed one of the most significant financial transformations anywhere in the world. Through a combination of visionary public policy, regulatory reforms, and digital public infrastructure, access to financial services has expanded at an unprecedented scale. Jan Dhan connected bank accounts, Aadhaar established identity, GST strengthened the system, and Direct Benefit Transfer ensured that assistance reached people directly. Together, these initiatives have brought financial services to the doorstep of the common citizen. And as formal credit penetration expanded and entrepreneurship flourished, our financial services business, Aditya Birla Capital, saw its lending capacity grow many times over. The combined NBFC and housing finance book has grown from 25,000 crore a decade ago to over 2 lakh crore today. Most of these loans are given to MSMEs and retail individuals to start new businesses.
To me, however, the largest story is about the democratization of opportunity. And another sector that has helped democratize opportunity and access is connectivity. Finance builds opportunity, telecom builds inclusion, cement builds infrastructure, and together they demonstrate how businesses operating across various different sectors can contribute to nation-building. Industry plays a crucial role in building a nation. The dream of a developed India is big, and the role of big industries in realizing it is equally big. Big businesses must continue to see MSMEs as complementary partners, and collectively, we should aspire to create at least 100 national champions who are globally competitive, globally recognized, and who lead their respective sectors.
And so, my appeal to the young people of India is simple: embrace entrepreneurship. This is our India. Build in India, build for India. Build in India, build for India. Build for the world. Build for the world while staying in India. India possesses one of the world's oldest entrepreneurial traditions, one of its youngest populations, and one of its most dynamic markets. The opportunities before this generation are unprecedented. The opportunities before this generation are unlike any before. This is India's era. There has never been a better time to be a young Indian in India. And there has certainly never been a better time to build in India. There has never been a better time than today when you are young and in India. And there has never been a better time than today when you are in India, young, and can build something big. You can build your own industry or enterprise, an MSME. Because every business that creates jobs, develops technologies, strengthens supply chains, and serves society contributes to something much larger than itself. Ultimately, business building leads to nation building.
In America, there is a futurist who has said that the entire world will experience in the next 10 years the progress of 100 years. Think about it. The progress the world has seen in 100 years, the world will see in 10 years. The question before us is not whether the future will arrive; it already has. The question is whether we have the courage to build upon it, the imagination to shape it, and the determination to ensure that it serves the aspirations of 1.4 billion Indians. This is a huge opportunity for us, for every Indian, a chance that perhaps has never come before in our lives. I believe we will do it. I believe India will take full advantage of this opportunity. Because India's greatest strength is its people. India's people, every Indian, are India's greatest strength. And we must keep progressing and keep growing. We must keep moving forward. We must keep growing.
There is a Sanskrit saying that is like a life mantra for me. It is 'Charaiveti, Charaiveti.' Meaning, keep moving, keep progressing. So let our Amrit Kaal be defined by nation-building. Let us use this Amrit Kaal to advance and build India. Guided by values, measured by the opportunities we create for future generations. How many opportunities we can create for future generations is a very important task for us. After my visit today, I am even more convinced about the impact of the RSS towards the nation-building project. Today, I got the opportunity to stay here all day, and I saw the different kinds of activities you all are doing in the RSS. I felt very good, felt very proud, and I felt that the role of the RSS in building and advancing India is very important. My congratulations to all of you. My best wishes to all of you for your selfless service to the nation. For your selfless work towards India, thank you all very much and congratulations. Thank you. Jai Hind.
