Sunil Mittal | |
|---|---|
 Sunil Mittal in 2024 | |
| Born | (1957-10-23)23 October 1957 (age 68) |
| Alma mater | Punjab University |
| Occupation | IndustrialistPhilanthropist |
| Title | Founder & chairmanBharti Enterprises |
| Spouse | Nyna Mittal |
| Children | Kavin Bharti Mittal,Eiesha Bharti Pasricha andShravin Mittal |
| Parent | Sat Pal Mittal(father) |
| Relatives | Sharan Pasricha (son-in-law) |
| Awards | Padma Bhusan Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire |
Sunil Bharti Mittal (born 23 October 1957) is an Indian billionaire industrialist and philanthropist. He is the founder and chairman ofBharti Enterprises, which has diversified interests in telecom, insurance, real estate, education, malls, hospitality, Agri and food besides other ventures.
Bharti Airtel, the group's flagship company is India's largest telecom company with operations in 18 countries across Asia and Africa with a customer base of over 399 million.[1] Bharti Airtel clocked revenues of overUS$18 billion in FY2023. In 2023 he was ranked the 10th richest person in India byForbes, with an estimated net worth ofUS$14.8 billion.[2]
In October 2024, Sunil Mittal was ranked seventh on Forbes list of India's 100 richest tycoons, with a net worth of $30.7 billion.[3]
In 2007, he was awarded thePadma Bhushan, India's third highest civilian honor.[4] On 15 June 2016, he was elected as Chairman of theInternational Chamber of Commerce.[5]
Sunil Bharti Mittal was born inLudhiana,Punjab into anAgarwal family.[6] His father,Sat Pal Mittal, had been aMember of Parliament, Rajya Sabha (Indian National Congress) fromLudhiana, Punjab. He first joined theWynberg Allen School inMussoorie,[7] but later attendedScindia School atGwalior and he graduated in 1976 fromPanjab University, Chandigarh, with a bachelor's degree in economics and political science.[8][9] His father died of cardiac arrest in 1992.[10]
A first-generation entrepreneur, Sunil started his first business in April 1976[11] at the age of 18, with a capital investment of₹20,000 (US$240) borrowed from his father. His first business was to make crankshafts for local bicycle manufacturers.[12]
In 1980, he along with his brothers Rakesh Mittal andRajan Mittal started an Import Enterprise named Bharti Overseas Trading Company.[7] He sold his bicycle parts and yarn factories and moved toMumbai.[12] In 1981, he purchased importing licenses from exporting companies inPunjab.[11] He then imported thousands ofSuzuki Motors's portable electric-powergenerators from Japan. The importing of generators was suddenly banned by the thenIndian Government.
In 1984, he started assembling push-button phones in India,[11] which he earlier used to import from a Taiwan company, Kingtel, replacing the old fashioned, bulkyrotary phones that were in use in the country then. Bharti Telecom Limited (BTL) was incorporated and entered into a technical tie up withSiemens AG of Germany for the manufacture of electronic push button phones. Sunil said, "In 1983, the government imposed a ban on the import of gensets. I was out of business overnight. Everything I was doing came to a screeching halt. I was in trouble. The question then was: what should I do next? Then, opportunity came calling. While in Taiwan, I noticed the popularity of the push-button phone – something which India hadn't seen then. We were still using those rotary dials with no speed dials or redials. I sensed my chance and embraced the telecom business. I started marketing telephones, answering/fax machines under the brand name Beetel and the company picked up really fast.".[10] He named his first push-button phones as 'Mitbrau' By the early 1990s, Sunil was making fax machines, cordless phones and other telecom gear. .[7]
In 1992, he successfully bid for one of the four mobile phone network licenses auctioned in India.[10] One of the conditions for the Delhi cellular license was that the bidder have some experience as a telecom operator. So, Mittal clinched a deal with the French telecom groupVivendi. He was one of the first Indian entrepreneurs to identify the mobile telecom business as a major growth area. His plans were finally approved by the Government in 1994[11] and he launched services in Delhi in 1995, when Bharti Cellular Limited (BCL) was formed to offer cellular services under the brand nameAirTel in 1997. Within a few years Bharti became the first telecom company to cross the 2-million mobile subscriber mark. Bharti also brought down the STD/ISD cellular rates in India under brand name 'Indiaone'.[11]
In May 2008, it emerged thatSunil Bharti Mittal was exploring the possibility of buying theMTN Group, a South Africa-based telecommunications company with coverage in 21 countries in Africa and the Middle East.The Financial Times reported that Bharti was considering offering US$45 billion for a 100% stake in MTN, which would be the largest overseas acquisition ever by an Indian firm. However, both sides emphasize the tentative nature of the talks, whileThe Economist magazine noted, "If anything, Bharti would bemarrying up," as MTN has more subscribers, higher revenues and broader geographic coverage.[13] However, the talks fell apart as MTN group tried to reverse the negotiations by making Bharti almost a subsidiary of the new company.[14] In May 2009, Bharti Airtel again confirmed that it was in talks with MTN and the companies agreed to discuss the potential transaction exclusively by 31 July 2009. Talks eventually ended without agreement, some sources stating that this was due to opposition from the South African government.[15]
In June 2010, Bharti led by Mittal acquired the African business ofZain Telecom for $10.7 billion (enterprise value) making it the largest ever acquisition by an Indian telecom firm.[16] In 2012, Bharti tied up withWal-Mart, the US retail giant, to start a number of retail stores across India.[17] In 2014, Bharti planned to acquireLoop Mobile for INR 7 billion, but the deal was called off later.[18] His sonKavin Bharti Mittal is the CEO and founder ofhike Messenger.[19]
In September 2010, Mittal's son, Shravin Mittal, joined Bharti Airtel as a manager having worked for Merrill Lynch in New York and Ernst & Young in London.[20]
In 2012, Mittal took Bharti Infratel public with anIPO that raised $760 million. Mittal noted that the sale, considered by many to be only a modest success, was a "strong endorsement from qualified investors".[21] The board was restructured ahead of the IPO with Mittal remaining as chairman and managing director.[22] After the IPO, shares of Bharti Infratel dropped sharply at the commencement of trading.[23]
In 2013, Mittal was ordered to appear before a special Delhi court[23] to answer questions about the additional allocation of airwaves to certain companies. Allegations against Mittal state that there had been collusion with key telecoms officials in the government to illegally secure an extra spectrum. No charges were issued against Mittal, however the trial court judge noted that there was enough material on record to proceed.[24]
In late 2013, Mittal announced the acquisition ofWarid Congo, making Bharti Airtel the largest telecoms provider in the Republic of Congo.[25]
In 2015, Sunil Mittal announced that he would be joining the board of Oneweb, a space internet company. Mittal was one of the investors in a $500 million investment round that included Coca-Cola, Virgin and Qualcomm.[26]
In 2016, Mittal made changes at Bharti Airtel to enable the company to compete against the launch ofJio.[27][28][29] in the race to become India's largest telecom company.
In 2017, Mittal announced "war on roaming" by scrapping charges for outgoing and incoming calls within India as well as international roaming charges.[30][31]
Mittal has also been working towards educating India through theBharti Foundation, which is the philanthropic arm of Bharti Enterprises. The Foundation has established schools in villages across India and offers free quality education with free books, uniform and mid day meals to poor children.[32]
Satya Bharti School Program' – the Foundation's flagship program is running 254 schools in six States serving over 45,000 rural children, free of cost. The other educational initiatives including the – Satya Bharti School, Quality Support and Learning Centre Programs, are currently reaching out to over 350,000 underprivileged children in 11 states. Other Program of the Foundation making considerable impact among the underprivileged sections is – 'Satya Bharti Abhiyan' (Sanitation).
In 2017, the Bharti Family pledged 10% of their wealth (approx. Rs 70 billion) towards Philanthropy to set up Satya Bharti University, a world-class University to offer education to deserving youth from economically weaker sections of society
Mittal has been married "for decades" to Nyna Mittal, a philanthropist who focuses on education.[33] The couple has one daughter and two sons, who are twins, born 31 August 1987. The daughter, Eiesha Bharti Pasricha, a "lifestyle investor," lives inLondon with her husband, businessmanSharan Pasricha, and their two children.[34][35] One son,Kavin Bharti Mittal, is an entrepreneur and the founder and CEO of Hike, aNew Delhi-headquartered tech and internet startup.[36] The other son, Shravin Bharti Mittal, is the founder and CEO of Unbound, a London-based venture capital and private equity firm, and a director of Bharti Global Ltd, a London-headquartered firm in the Bharti corporate family. He was reportedly instrumental in the successful acquisition ofOneWeb.[37] In April 2015, inDelhi, Shavrin married Sakshi Chhabra.[38]
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