Why Zuck, Ivanka Trump and the world's rich and famous are flocking to a lavish party in India

• Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates and other CEOs and celebs are at a wedding pre-party in India this weekend.
• Billionaire Mukesh Ambani's lavish bash may help them make inroads into the huge Indian market.
• Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, and Netflix have all touted the country's enormous growth potential.

Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, and Sundar Pichai are among the many US business leaders and other celebrities such as Ivanka Trump invited to a pre-wedding party in India being thrown by Asia's richest person this weekend.

The legion of technology, finance, and media bosses at Mukesh Ambani's three-day bash underscores not just his global influence, but India's growing importance to foreign companies.

Ambani, who owns a 42% stake in Reliance Industries, ranks 11th on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index with a $111 billion fortune, just behind Alphabet founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin. He's hosting this weekend's celebration for his youngest son, Anant, and his fiancée, Radhika Merchant.

The centibillionaire's grip on domestic commerce makes him a powerful partner for Western companies trying to break into the Indian market.

Meta, Alphabet, Qualcomm, and Intel have all invested in Reliance's telecoms subsidiary, Jio Platforms, in recent years.

Vital growth frontier

US executives are eager to cozy up to Ambani and Reliance because they see dollar signs when they look at India.

The Asian nation has long offered a plentiful supply of cheap labor, a deep pool of tech talent, and some level of familiarity as an English-speaking democracy.

The prolonged shutdown of Chinese factories during the pandemic, the political and legal challenges of operating in China, and the country's economic woes have also spurred many US companies to spread their global footprint and rely more on India.

India is also in the midst of a technological and financial revolution. More and more Indians are embracing digital payments, online communications, and e-commerce as their incomes rise.

"What I do see in India is a lot of people entering the middle class, and I'm hopeful that we can convince some number of them to buy an iPhone," Apple CEO Tim Cook said on an earnings call in May last year.

"I really feel that India is at a tipping point, and it's great to be there."

On another earnings call in August, Cook noted that Apple has a "very, very modest" share of the world's second-largest smartphone market, creating a "huge opportunity" for the company in India.

His comments help explain why Apple opened its first two stores in India last year, and its revenue from the country hit a new record in the fourth quarter.

On an April earnings call, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos hailed India as a "big prize" given its "enormous population of entertainment-loving people."

Meanwhile, Meta gave a shout-out to India in its recent annual report, revealing it was one of the three biggest sources of growth for active users last year.

As for Amazon, its India business attracted about 1 billion customer visits to its website during the month-long Great Indian Festival sales event in the fourth quarter, including 4 million who made their very first Amazon purchase.

Moreover, Microsoft has touted India as a key driver of growth in LinkedIn members. Memberships jumped 19% year-on-year to 100 million there in the first quarter of 2023.

Profits, partnerships, and parties

India is clearly a key growth driver for some of America's largest companies, so it's no surprise they're keen to make further inroads into that market.

The Ambani pre-wedding event offers a chance to break bread with one of India's most powerful men and his family, rub shoulders with a who's who of industry leaders, discuss and strike local deals, and enjoy what's bound to be one of this year's most extravagant parties.

It's therefore no surprise that America's business elite are showing up in force.