Sunil Mittal
Sunil Mittal
Sunil Bharti Mittalis an Indian entrepreneur, philanthropist and the Founder & Chairman of Bharti Enterprises, which has diversified interests in telecom, insurance, real estate, hospitality, agri and food besides other ventures. Bharti Airtel, the group's flagship company is the world's third largest and India's largest telecom company with operations in 20 countries across Asia and Africa with a customer base of over 300 million. Bharti Airtel clocked revenues of over USD 14.75 billion in FY2016. He is listed as the...
NationalityIndian
ProfessionBusinessman
Date of Birth23 October 1957
CountryIndia
amount borrowed capital coming sum
I started with capital of about $1,500, a princely sum for a student coming out of college, an amount I borrowed from my father.
fields fresh indian link tables western
The vision that we and the Rothschilds have for India is to link Indian fields to the world and put the produce, as fresh as it can be, on Western tables in 4-5 days.
accepted african few globally indians lies people pool source travel truly
The only pool of young people lies in Saudi Arabia, some of the Middle-East countries, and few African countries. But they are not prepared as Indians are... we travel well; we are accepted globally very well, and that makes India truly a place to source world's workforce.
brought gave market near products
We were in the market ahead of competition. We brought new products on the market ahead of competition. We rolled out our networks. We begged, borrowed, stole, put things out. And while they were never near perfect, they were first. And that gave us, to my mind, a lot of advantage.
believe country operations reasonably remain
On the ground, our operations are in India. We believe we are in a country where the growth is still to be captured, so we will remain reasonably focused in this country.
bicycle business days earned initial kept money next parts proved retired trade venture
My first venture was to trade bicycle parts and hosiery yarn. The initial days proved to be difficult, and I earned very little from my business. But I kept at it. Each day, when I retired for the night, I told myself that money would come in the next day.
across africa common economist fine heads high level mention reputation singapore south travels various wide
In my wide travels across the world and my meetings with various heads of states, be that Africa or South Asia, Singapore or in high level meetings in the U.S., U.K. or Japan, one common mention is about Dr. Singh's extraordinary reputation as a Wise Man, an outstanding Economist and a fine Gentleman.
anyone belong goes guy maintain throw upgrade
If something goes wrong with my switch, there's no way anyone from Bharti can do anything about it. An Ericsson guy is going to have to come and fix it. I don't manufacture it; I can't maintain or upgrade it. So I'm thinking, 'This doesn't really belong to me. Let's just throw it out.'
clear country history industry partners witness
I would say history is a clear witness to many of the problems that have erupted when two partners from the same industry or same country have come together.
born both brother elder father gap late paul point politician sat second separates sibling son time younger
I was born in 1957 as the second son of the late Sat Paul and Lalita Mittal. My father was a politician and, at one point of time, an MP. A gap of two years separates me from both my elder brother Rakesh and younger sibling Rajan.
either everybody parts
I started manufacturing bicycle parts. I come from a city called Ludhiana where almost everybody is self-employed, and either you make bicycle parts or bicycles, or hosiery parts or hosiery goods.
brand business chance company embraced machines name picked
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.
amount believe countries country needs personally
I personally believe every country has the same amount of spectrum. It is not that India has less... It needs to be vacated from other places; that is what other countries have also done.
against chance crafted deal evolution government including nuclear piece risking witness
I had the chance to witness the evolution of the Nuclear Deal into Dr. Singh's legacy as he assiduously, piece by piece, crafted the Indo-US nuclear deal against all odds, including risking his government.