Sunil Bharti Mittal
Sunil Bharti Mittal is the Founder Chairman and Group CEO of Bharti
Enterprises, one of India’s leading business groups with interests in
telecom, financial services, retail, manufacturing, realty and agri
business.
Bharti Airtel Limited, a group company of Bharti Enterprises, is Asia’s
leading integrated telecom services provider with operations in India
and Sri Lanka and an aggregate of over 102 million customers as of end
of May 2009. Bharti has joint ventures with several global leaders; AXA
for financial services, Del Monte for its agri-business and Wal-Mart for
supply chain, logistics and cash & carry operations. It has also forayed
into the retail sector with the launch of retail stores under the ‘Easyday’ brand.
Sunil started his career at 18 after graduating from Punjab University in India in 1976 and founded
Bharti. Today, at 51, he heads a successful enterprise, which has a market capitalization of over
US$ 32 billion and employs over 40,000 people.
Sunil has been recognized with the Padma Bhushan, one of India’s highest civilian awards. He is a
member of the Indian Prime Minister’s Council on Trade and Industry and is also a past President
of the Confederation of Indian Industry the premier industry body in India (2007-08).
Sunil has been awarded the Global Economy Prize 2009 by The Kiel Institute (Germany). The USIndia Business Council has honored him with the ‘Global Vision’ Award 2008. He has also
received the GSM Association Chairman's Award for 2008. In 2006, he was chosen Asia
Businessman of the Year by Fortune and Asia Pacific CEO of the Year by Frost & Sullivan. Sunil
has been named Business Leader of the Year by several important India media outlets, including
The Economic Times, Business Standard, and NDTV Profit. He was also the Ernst &Young
Entrepreneur of the Year in 2004.
Sunil was Co-chairman of the World Economic Forum in 2007 at Davos and is a member of its
International Business Council. He is a member of the Leadership Council of The Climate Group.
He is also a member of the Board of Trustees of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
He is a member of two premier international bodies - International Advisory Committee to the
NYSE Euronext Board of Directors and the International Business Advisory Council of London.
Sunil is also on the Telecom Board of the International Telecommunication Union, the leading
UN Agency for Information and Communication Technology. He has also been Honorary Consul
General of the Republic of Seychelles in India (Aug 1999- June 2008).
Sunil serves as a member of the Executive Board of the Indian School of Business. He co-chairs the
Bharti School of Telecommunication Technology and Management at the Indian Institute of
Technology, Delhi. He is also a member of the Cambridge India Partnership Advisory Board.
Sunil is a member of the Academy of Distinguished Entrepreneurs, Babson College, Wellesley,
Massachusetts. He is an Honorary Fellow of The Institution of Electronics and Telecommunication
Engineers. He has been conferred with the degree of Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa) by the
Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture & Technology and is an alumnus of Harvard
Business School, USA.
Biography