Sunil Bharti Mittal (born 23 October 1957) is an Indian businessman and the founder and chairman of Bharti Enterprises, whose main company, Bharti Airtel, is one of the largest mobile phone operators in the world, with operations in India and across Africa. A first-generation entrepreneur who began by making bicycle parts in Ludhiana, he is often described as the man who brought the mobile phone to ordinary Indians.
Quick Facts
| Full name | Sunil Bharti Mittal |
| Born | 23 October 1957, Ludhiana, Punjab, India |
| Age | 68 |
| Occupation | Businessman |
| Position | Founder and chairman, Bharti Enterprises |
| Education | Panjab University, Chandigarh (B.A. 1976) |
| Father | Sat Paul Mittal (Member of Parliament) |
| Spouse | Nyna Mittal |
| Children | 3 (Kavin, Shravin and Eiesha) |
| Honour | Padma Bhushan (2007) |
Early Life
Mittal was born in Ludhiana; his father, Sat Paul Mittal, was a Congress politician who served in the Rajya Sabha. He studied at Wynberg Allen School in Mussoorie and Scindia School in Gwalior and graduated from Panjab University. At 18, with ₹20,000 borrowed from his father, he started making crankshafts for bicycles.
Career
In 1980 he moved to Mumbai and, with his brothers Rakesh and Rajan, began importing portable generators from Japan. When the government banned generator imports in 1983, he switched to assembling push-button telephones, then new to India, under the brand Beetel, and later made cordless phones and fax machines.
When India opened mobile telephony to private firms in 1992, Mittal bid with the French company Vivendi and won the licence for Delhi. The service was launched in 1995 under the brand Airtel. He bought out smaller operators across the country and, to keep costs low, outsourced the running of his networks to Ericsson, Nokia and IBM, a model later copied worldwide. Airtel became India’s largest mobile operator. In 2010 it bought the African operations of Kuwait’s Zain for about $10.7 billion.
The arrival of Mukesh Ambani‘s Reliance Jio in 2016, with free calls and very cheap data, drove most rivals out of business. Airtel survived, raised prices as the market settled and returned to strong profits. Bharti also led the rescue of the satellite internet company OneWeb in 2020 with the British government; it later merged with Eutelsat. A retail venture with Walmart ended in 2013.
Other Roles
Mittal chaired the International Chamber of Commerce from 2016 to 2018 and the mobile industry body GSMA. The Bharti Foundation runs Satya Bharti schools, giving free education to children in villages.
Personal Life
He is married to Nyna, and they have twin sons, Kavin and Shravin, and a daughter, Eiesha. In 2024 he was made an honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire, the first Indian citizen to receive that honour from King Charles III.
Awards and Honours
Frequently Asked Questions
When and where was Sunil Mittal born?
Sunil Mittal was born on 23 October 1957 in Ludhiana, Punjab, India and is 68 years old.
What is Sunil Mittal’s occupation?
Occupation: Businessman.
Featured image: Sunil Bharti Mittal speaks at the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas convention, January 2006. Photo by Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs, licensed under Government Open Data License – India, via Wikimedia Commons.
