Biography

Sunil Bharti Mittal, born October 23, 1957 is the Chairman and Managing Director of the Bharti group. The USD 5 billion turnover company runs Indias largest GSM based mobile phone service. 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 Indias largest mobile phone operator in just ten years. He has been Chairman & Managing Director of Bharti Group since October 2001.

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 borrowed from his father. His first business was to make crankshafts for local bicycle manufacturers. In 1980 he sold his bicycle parts and yarn factories and moved to Mumbai. The importing of telecom equipment was banned by the Indian Government as ITI (Indian Telecom Industry) monopoly practices & sole OEM for Department of Telecommunication. 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.

Sunil has received several awards including: Transforming India Leader, NDTV Business Leader Awards 2008. GSMA Chairmans Award 2008 Padma Bhushan in 2007, from the President of India Asia Businessman of the Year, Fortune Magazine 2006 Telecom Person of the Year, Voice & Data, 2006 CEO of the year 2005, at the Frost and Sullivan Asia Pacific ICT awards 2006 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.