Sunil Mittal

Sunil Bharti Mittal was born in Ludhiana, Punjab into an Agarwal family. His father, Sat Pal Mittal, had been a Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha (Indian National Congress) from Ludhiana, Punjab. He first joined the Wynberg Allen School in Mussoorie, but later attended Scindia School at Gwalior and he graduated in 1976 from Panjab University, Chandigarh, with a bachelor's degree in economics and political science. His father died of cardiac arrest in 1992. ==Entrepreneurial ventures==

A first-generation entrepreneur, Mittal started his first business in April 1976 at the age of 18, with a capital investment of borrowed from his father. His first business was to make crankshafts for local bicycle manufacturers. In 1980, he along with his brothers Rakesh Mittal and Rajan Mittal started an Import Enterprise named Bharti Overseas Trading Company. However, the talks fell apart as MTN group tried to reverse the negotiations by making Bharti almost a subsidiary of the new company. 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. In June 2010, Bharti led by Mittal acquired the African business of Zain Telecom for $10.7 billion (enterprise value) making it the largest ever acquisition by an Indian telecom firm. In 2012, Bharti tied up with Wal-Mart, the US retail giant, to start a number of retail stores across India. In 2014, Bharti planned to acquire Loop Mobile for INR 7 billion, but the deal was called off later. His son Kavin Bharti Mittal is the CEO and founder of hike Messenger. 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. In 2012, Mittal took Bharti Infratel public with an IPO 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". The board was restructured ahead of the IPO with Mittal remaining as chairman and managing director. After the IPO, shares of Bharti Infratel dropped sharply at the commencement of trading. In 2013, Mittal was ordered to appear before a special Delhi court In late 2013, Mittal announced the acquisition of Warid Congo, making Bharti Airtel the largest telecoms provider in the Republic of Congo. 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. In 2016, Mittal made changes at Bharti Airtel to enable the company to compete against the launch of Jio. 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. ==Philanthropy==

Mittal has also been working towards educating India through the Bharti 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. 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 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. The couple has one daughter and two sons, who are twins, born 31 August 1987. The daughter, Eiesha Bharti Pasricha, a "lifestyle investor," lives in London with her husband, businessman Sharan Pasricha, and their two children. One son, Kavin Bharti Mittal, is an entrepreneur and the founder and CEO of Hike, a New Delhi-headquartered tech and internet startup. 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 of OneWeb. In April 2015, in Delhi, Shavrin married Sakshi Chhabra. == Awards and recognition ==

• Padma Bhushan, 2007 • Transforming India Leader, NDTV Business Leader Awards • GSM Association's chairman's Award, 2008 • Asia Businessman of the Year, Fortune Magazine, 2006 • CEO of the year, 2005–06, Business Standard • Business Leader of the Year, Economic Times, 2005 • Philanthropist of the Year Award, The Asian Awards, 2010 • INSEAD Business Leader Award, 2011 • Honoris Causa Doctorate of Sciences (D.Sc.) Degree, Amity University Gurgaon, 2016 • Business Leader of the Year at The Economic Times Awards for Corporate Excellence 2022 • Appointed Honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) in the 2024 Special Honours, in recognition of his contributions to strengthening business relations between India and the UK. • Honorary doctorate from the University of Bath in July 2025. The award recognised Mittal's dedication to 'improving lives through enterprise'. == Industry associations and affiliations ==

• Chairman, GSM Association, 2017–19 • Honorary Chairman, International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) • Member, Telecom Board of International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the leading UN agency for Information and Communication Technology Commissioner, Broadband Commission for Sustainable Digital Development at ITU • Chair, World Economic Forum's Telecommunications Steering Committee • Member, International Business Council, World Economic Forum • Member, Board of Directors, Qatar Foundation Endowment • Member, Board of Directors, SoftBank Corp. (2011–2013) • Member, Board of Directors, Unilever PLC and Unilever NV (2011–2013) • Member, International Advisory Committee to the Board of Directors, NYSE Euronext (2008–2011) • Member, Board of Directors, Standard Chartered Bank Plc (2007–2009) • Member, Board of Directors, Hero Honda Motors (2006–2009) • President, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) (2007–2008) • Co-chairman, Annual Meeting, World Economic Forum, Davos (2007) • Member, Board of Global GSM Association (2003–2007) ==Academia==

• Member, Global Advisory Council, Harvard University • Member, Vice Chancellor's Circle of Advisors on India, University of Cambridge • Member, Board of Dean Advisors, Harvard Business School (2010–2019) • Member, Governing Body, London Business School (2010–2013) ==Global Trade==

• Co-chair, Trade & Investment Development Task Force, B20 Argentina (2018) • Co-chair, Trade & Investment Development Task Force, B20 Germany (2017) • Co-chair, SME Development Taskforce, B20 China (2016) In March 2026, Mittal received the GSMA Lifetime Achievement Award at Mobile World Congress Barcelona.==References== In March 2026, Mittal announced retirement as Airtel Africa Chairman effective July 2026.In 2026, his son Shravin Bharti Mittal was appointed Deputy Chairman of Airtel Africa.In 2026, his son Shravin Bharti Mittal was appointed Deputy Chairman of Airtel Africa.==External links== • Profile at Bharti Enterprises • Profile at Forbes • Profile at Bloomberg L.P. • Sunil Bharti Mittal Interviews at Harvard Business School • Sunil Mittal collected news and commentary at The Times of India