Sunil Mittal, Bharti Airtel chairman, is one of the richest men in India. His company is among India's largest mobile phone operators. The billionaire turned 67 on Wednesday, October 2024. According to Forbes, he has a real-time net worth of Rs 106772 crore. But it took hard work and dedication to reach this stage.
Born on 23 October 1957 in Ludhiana, Sunil's father Sat Pal Mittal was a famous leader of Punjab. He became a Rajya Sabha MP twice. However, after completing his studies, Sunil did not join politics with his father. Rather, he expressed his desire to do business.
At the age of 18, he borrowed Rs 20,000 from his father and entered the business of making bicycle parts in 1976. Initially, he used to make bicycle parts for Brijmohan Munjal's Hero Cycle Company. Despite being from a rich family, Sunil had to face many problems in his business.
He later realized that his cycle parts business could not be made big. So, he sold it and shifted to Mumbai from Ludhiana. He tried his luck in many types of businesses but did not get any profit. Once he went to Taiwan. where he saw push-button mobiles. He decided to import them. After this, Sunil started a telephone and fax machine under the name Beetle. In 1992, the Indian government distributed licenses for mobile services for the first time. Sunil also obtained the license of a cellular circle.
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In 1995, Sunil founded Bharti Cellular Limited (BCL). He launched the Airtel brand under this company, which later spread all over the country. Today, Bharti Airtel has a market cap of Rs 10.09 lakh crore. It operates in 18 countries across South Asia and Africa. In India, Airtel competes with Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Jio and Kumar Birla's Vodafone Idea. In February this year, he became the first Indian to be conferred with an Honorary Knighthood by King Charles III of the UK.
