Sunil Mittal
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Sunil Bharti Mittal | |
.jpg/225px-Sunil_Bharti_Mittal,_James_J._Schiro,_Angela_Merkel_at_the_World_Economic_Forum_Annual_Meeting_Davos_2007_(374703387).jpg) Sunil Bharti Mittal (left) with James J. Schiro and Angela Merkel
|
|
| Born | October 23, 1957  Rajasthan (India) |
|---|---|
| Residence | New Delhi |
| Alma mater | Punjab University |
| Occupation | Chairman and CEO of Bharti Airtel |
| Net worth | ▲US$11.8 billion (2008) |
| Children | 3 |
| Website www.airtel.in |
|
Sunil Bharti Mittal, born October 23, 1957 is an Indian businessman. He is the chairman and managing director of the Bharti group. The US$5 billion turnover company runs India's largest GSM-based mobile phone service.
Contents |
[edit] Bharti Group
The son of a politician, Sunil Mittal is from the town of Ludhiana in Punjab. He has built the Bharti group, along with two siblings, into India's largest mobile phone operator in just ten years. The UK based telecommunication giant, Vodafone and Singapore's SingTel both own stakes in the recently renamed flagship company Bharti Airtel. The group also has partnerships with Axa for insurance and with the Rothschild family for exporting fruits and vegetables.
He has been Chairman & Managing Director of Bharti Group since October 2001.
[edit] Entrepreneurial Ventures
Residing in Delhi, he is married, with three children. A first generation entrepreneur, he started his first business in 1976 at the age of 18, with a capital investment of Rs 20,000 (U$1500) borrowed from his father. His first business was to make crankshafts for local bicycle manufacturers. [1]
In 1980 he sold his bicycle parts and yarn factories and moved to Mumbai. [2]
In 1982 he became the exclusive dealer for Suzuki Motors's portable electric-power generators imported from Japan. The importing of telecom equipment were banned by the Indian Government as ITI (Indian Telecom Industry ) monopoly practices & sole OEM for Department of Telecommunication.[citation needed]
He established the first company to manufacture push button telephones in India. He was one of the first Indian entrepreneurs to identify the mobile telecom business as a major growth area and launched services in the city of Delhi and the National Capital Region in the year 1995.
[edit] Philanthropic activities
Bharti Enterprises joined hands with the All India Football Federation and pumped in over a hundred crore rupees to help the country attain global standards in the sport. Bharti signed a MoU with the AIFF, which aims to create a comprehensive National Football Development Programme and working for globalisation of Indian football, in an attempt to make it to a World Cup finals. As a first step, the telecom company will start a world-class football academy, to be named 'Bharti-AIFF Academy' with an investment of more than Rs.100 crores, to be set-up either in Haryana or Goa. Mr. Mittal said he wants a "football revolution" in the country and is ready to invest "any amount of money" necessary for providing a world-class academy in India
[edit] Tie-Up with Wal-Mart
In November 2006, he struck a joint venture deal with Wal-Mart, the US retail giant, to start a number of retail stores across India.
In July 2006, he attracted many key executives from Reliance ADAG, NIS Sparta and created Bharti Comtel
[edit] Awards
Sunil has received several awards including:
- GSMA Chairman's Award 2008
- Padma Bhushan in 2007, from the President of India
- Asia Businessman of the Year, Fortune Magazine 2006 [3]
- Telecom Person of the Year, Voice & Data, 2006
- CEO of the year 2005, at the Frost and Sullivan Asia Pacific ICT awards 2006 [4]
- Best Asian Telecom CEO, Telecom Asia Awards 2005
- Best CEO, India, Institutional Investor, 2005
- Business Leader Of The Year, Economic Times, 2005
- Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year 2004, Ernst & Young
