Nita Ambani at Harvard conference makes case for Olympics in India

Feb. 17, 2025: Reliance Foundation chairperson Nita Ambani attended the Harvard India Conference 2025, where she delivered the keynote address and engaged in a  conversation with Nitin Nohria, the former Dean of Harvard Business School. The Conference was held February 15 and 16.

The Harvard India Conference is an annual student-run event that celebrates India’s rise as a global leader shaping pathways for peace, prosperity, and innovation, according to a pre-event press release from the University. This year’s theme, “From India to the World,” focused on India’s transformative journey—where local ingenuity meets global impact.

More than 80 speakers, (indiaconferenceharvard.com/speakers-2025) including policymakers, cultural icons, and business leaders, attended and many spoke on subjects like India’s contributions to global narratives in technology, culture, and innovation. Nita Ambani, chairperson and founder of the Reliance Foundation was the keynote speaker and her speech focused on India’s global reach, how cricket should be made an Olympic sport and the event should be held in India.

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She also became emotional and began by sharing an anecdote of how her mother felt proud that the same Harvard they aspired for but could not send young Nita because of financial constraints, has today invited her to deliver the keynote session on their prestigious platform.

In a video posted by Reliance Industries Limited, Nita could be seen saying, “Before I start, I just have to say something. Today in the morning, my 90-year-old mother got very emotional and called my two daughters-in-law, Shloka and Radhika, and said, when Neeta was young, we couldn’t afford to send her to Harvard, though she wanted to. But now, today, they have called her to speak at Harvard. So I just want to thank you all so much for making my mother so happy today.” https://www.facebook.com/reel/622132470578777

The discussion also saw Nita expressing her feelings on the inclusion of Cricket in the upcoming 2028 Olympics, which are set to take place in Los Angeles, California, US.

“India is a sport-loving nation. For the Tokyo Olympics, the maximum viewership for the Olympic channel came from India, so imagine what would happen if we added cricket to it. So that’s the time when my mind started ticking as to how do I convince the committee members to have cricket as an Olympic sport. Now, they were still in the belief that cricket is a five-day long cricket match… I informed them and this is going to be a win-win situation if you have cricket as an Olympic spot and you’ll have the backing of probably two billion people. So I think that is the plug that I used and I’m so happy that now cricket will be an Olympic sport,” Nita Ambani said in the keynote address

She also spoke about India’s bid for the Olympics and how the country plans to make them the greenest and most sustainable Olympics.

“I believe that India must have the Olympics. We are going to be the third-largest economy in the world. If you look at the 10 largest economies of the world, nine countries have hosted the Olympics, but only India has not. So I find that really odd. We would wish to see the Olympics being hosted in our country. It will be our pride to host that. So that is the reason, I think the Prime Minister also mentioned that India will bid for the 2036 Olympics…I think we are planning to host a sustainable Olympics where we are planning to refurbish and reuse our existing stadiums and existing campuses. If we bid for it and get it, I assure you that we’ll be the greenest Olympics ever…I think India is at the right time now to host the Olympics”.