Sunil Mittal

Sunil Mittal

Founder & Chairman, Bharti Enterprises
Birth DetailsOctober 23, 1957 | Ludhiana
NationalityIndian
LeagueEntrepreneur
EducationBachelor’s Degree in Economics & Political Science, Panjab University
Net Worth$10.8 billion (as of August 7, 2020)
Sunil Mittal's Assets
  • Bharti Enterprises
  • Bharti Airtel Ltd
  • Airtel Africa Ltd
  • Airtel Payments Bank Ltd
  • Triton International


Sunil Mittal's Journey so far ...

  • Son of a politician, Sunil Bharti Mittal made his entrepreneurial debut in 1976 with a small bicycle-parts manufacturing unit in Ludhiana
  • Those were the days of ‘license raj’ and getting permits for manufacturing was very difficult. He had moved to Delhi at the time and soon started an import business of procuring portable generators from Japan and selling it in the Indian market
  • By 1982, Mittal had become the largest importer of portable generators in India
  • However, tragedy struck the same year when the government banned its import
  • He now had to pivot to revive his business and saw an opportunity in push-button phones which he had discovered while on a trip to Taiwan
  • Soon Beetel was formed as a part of Bharti Enterprises and he was dealing with telephones, fax machines and other telecom equipment
  • Mittal had established his company as a strong player in the telecom industry by the early 1990s but finally got his big break in 1992 when private companies were invited to bid for providing mobile telephone services
  • He got the licence and Airtel was formed
  • Airtel began providing cellular services in 1995 with Delhi being the first city to receive its services
  • By 2004, Airtel had become India’s largest telecom services provider
  • In 2007, Mittal was honoured with the Padma Bhushan -- India’s third-highest civilian award
  • In 2009, Airtel became the first company in India to cross the 100 million mobile subscribers mark and in 2014, the first to cross the 200 million mark
  • In 2011, the company launched 3G services in India and 4G the following year
  • Today, Airtel has presence in 18 countries and is one of the largest mobile service providers in the world
  • Mittal currently owns 27% of Bharti Airtel and is one of the richest individuals in India. Apart from telecom, the group has interests across DTH, banking, insurance, online payments, broadband, real estate among others


Before you go ...

  • Sunil Mittal is a firm advocate of quality education, and through the Bharti Foundation has established around 200 Satya Bharti Schools and supports more than 800 government schools to help over 2,75,000 underprivileged children in rural India
  • Throughout his career, he has served on various business advisory boards including the Prime Minister of India’s Council on Trade & Industry, International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and many more
Last Updated: 12/02/2021

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