Misplaced Pages

Latest revision as of 16:57, 10 December 2024

Lakshmi Mittal
Mittal in 2013
Born	(1950-06-15) 15 June 1950 (age 74) Sadulpur, Rajasthan, India
Citizenship	Indian
Alma mater	St. Xavier's College, Kolkata, (B.Com.)
Occupation(s)	Chairman of ArcelorMittal & Aperam Owner of Karrick Limited Co-owner of Queens Park Rangers F.C.
Known for	Steel magnate King of Steel
Board member of	Goldman Sachs
Spouse	Usha Mittal
Children	2, including Aditya Mittal
Relatives	Pramod Mittal (brother)
Family	Mittal family
Awards	Padma Vibhushan (2008)

Lakshmi Niwas Mittal (Hindi: [ˈləkʃmi nɪˈʋaːs ˈmɪtːəl] ; born 15 June 1950 in Sadulpur, Rajasthan, India) is an Indian steel magnate, based in the United Kingdom. He is the executive chairman of ArcelorMittal, the world's second largest steelmaking company, as well as chairman of stainless steel manufacturer Aperam. Mittal owns 38% of ArcelorMittal and holds a 3% stake in EFL Championship side Queens Park Rangers.

In 2005, Forbes ranked Mittal as the third-richest person in the world, making him the first Indian citizen to be ranked in the top ten in the publication's annual list of the world's richest people. He was ranked the sixth-richest person in the world by Forbes in 2011, but dropped to 82nd place in March 2015, and only to 130th by October 2024. He is also the "57th-most powerful person" of the 72 individuals named in Forbes' "Most Powerful People" list for 2015. His daughter Vanisha Mittal's wedding (in 2005) was the second-most expensive in recorded history.

Mittal has been a member of the board of directors of Goldman Sachs since 2008. He sits on the World Steel Association's executive committee, and is a member of the Global CEO Council of the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, the Foreign Investment Council in Kazakhstan, the World Economic Forum's International Business Council, and the European Round Table of Industrialists. He is also a member of the board of trustees of the Cleveland Clinic.

In 2005, The Sunday Times named him "Business Person of 2006", the Financial Times named him "Person of the Year", and Time magazine named him "International Newsmaker of the Year 2006". In 2007, Time magazine included him in their "Time 100" list.

Early life and career

Mittal was born in a Marwari Hindu family. He studied at Shri Daulatram Nopany Vidyalaya, Calcutta from 1957 to 1964. He graduated from St. Xavier's College, affiliated to the University of Calcutta, with a B.Com degree in the first class.

Lakshmi's father, Mohanlal Mittal, ran a steel business, Nippon Denro Ispat. In 1976, due to the curb of steel production by the Indian government, the 26-year-old Mittal opened his first steel factory PT Ispat Indo in Sidoarjo, East Java, Indonesia.

In 1989 Mittal purchased the state-owned steel works in Trinidad and Tobago, which were operating at an enormous loss. He turned them into profitable ventures in a year.

Until the 1990s, the family's main assets in India were a cold-rolling mill for sheet steels in Nagpur and an alloy steels plant near Pune. Today, the family business, including a large integrated steel plant near Mumbai, is run by his younger brothers Pramod Mittal and Vinod Mittal, but Lakshmi has no connection with it.

In 1995 Mittal purchased the Irish Steel plant based in Cork, Ireland, from the government for a nominal fee of IR£1. Only six years later in 2001 it was closed, leaving over 400 people redundant. Subsequent environmental issues at the site have been a cause for criticism. The Irish government sought a High Court judgement that Mittal's company should contribute to the cost of the clean-up of Cork Harbour, but failed. The clean up was expected to cost €70 million.

Prior to December 2001, Mittal had acquired assets which he renamed Ispat Mexicana and his Kazakhstani operation Ispat Karmet. That month he renamed Sidex Galati to Ispat Sidex, which he had acquired in November 2001.

In October 2003, the LNM Group succeeded in concluding the $155 million transaction to pry loose the Romanian government from the control of steel assets Siderurgica Hunedoara and Petrotub Roman, the day after it took over the PHS Steel Group which include Huta Sendzimira, Huta Katowice, Huta Florian and Huta Cedler from the Polish government.

Petrotub Roman was renamed Ispat Tepro in the sequel.

Mittal successfully employed Marek Dochnal's consultancy to influence Polish officials in the 2003 privatisation of PHS steel group, which was then Poland's largest. Dochnal was later arrested for bribing Polish officials on behalf of Russian agents in a separate affair. In March 2007, the Polish government said it wanted to renegotiate the 2004 sale to ArcelorMittal.

Employees of Mittal have accused him of allowing "slave labour" conditions after multiple fatalities in his mines. For example, during December 2004, 23 miners died in explosions in his mines in Kazakhstan caused by faulty gas detectors.

In 2006–07, Mittal succeeded in a hostile takeover bid for Arcelor, which he renamed Arcelor Mittal. In so doing he obtained control of amongst others the Usinor steel assets of France, the Arbed steel assets of Luxembourg, and the Aceralia steel assets of Spain.

Controversies

The Mittal Affair: "Cash for Influence"

In 2002, Plaid Cymru MP Adam Price obtained a letter written by Tony Blair to the Romanian Government in support of Mittal's LNM Group steel company, which was in the process of bidding to buy Romania's state-owned industry. This revelation caused controversy, because Mittal had given £125,000 to the British Labour Party the previous year. Although Blair defended his letter as simply "celebrating the success" of a British company, he was criticised because LNM was registered in the Dutch Antilles and employed less than 1% of its workforce in the UK. LNM was a "major global competitor of Britain's own struggling steel industry".

Blair's letter hinted that the privatisation of the firm and sale to Mittal might help smooth the way for Romania's entry into the European Union. It also had a passage, removed just prior to Blair's signing of it, describing Mittal as "a friend".

In October 2003, the LNM Group succeeded in concluding the transaction to pry loose the Romanian government from the control of steel assets.

Social work

Sports

After witnessing India win only one medal, bronze, in the 2000 Summer Olympics, and one medal, silver, at the 2004 Summer Olympics, Mittal decided to set up the Mittal Champions Trust with $9 million to support ten Indian athletes with world-beating potential. In 2008, Mittal awarded Abhinav Bindra with Rs. 1.5 Crore (Rs. 15 million), for getting India its first individual Olympic gold medal in shooting. ArcelorMittal also provided steel for the construction of the ArcelorMittal Orbit for the 2012 Summer Olympics.

For Comic Relief he matched the money raised (~£1 million) on the celebrity special BBC programme, The Apprentice.

Mittal had emerged as a leading contender to buy and sell Barclays Premiership clubs Wigan and Everton. However, on 20 December 2007, it was announced that the Mittal family had purchased a 20 per cent shareholding in Queens Park Rangers football club joining Flavio Briatore and Mittal's friend Bernie Ecclestone. As part of the investment Mittal's son-in-law, Amit Bhatia, took a place on the board of directors. The combined investment in the struggling club sparked suggestions that Mittal might be looking to join the growing ranks of wealthy individuals investing heavily in English football and emulating similar benefactors such as Roman Abramovich. On 19 February 2010, Briatore resigned as QPR chairman, and sold further shares in the club to Ecclestone, making Ecclestone the single largest shareholder.

Education

In 2003, the Lakshmi Niwas Mittal, Usha Mittal Foundation and the Government of Rajasthan partnered together to establish a university, the LNM Institute of Information Technology (LNMIIT) in Jaipur as an autonomous non-profit organisation.

In 2009, the Foundation along with Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan founded the Usha Lakshmi Mittal Institute of Management in New Delhi.

SNDT Women's University renamed the Institute of Technology for Women (ITW) as Usha Mittal Institute of Technology after a large donation from the Lakshmi Niwas Mittal Foundation.

He completed his primary and secondary school from Nopany High formerly known as Shri Daulatram Nopany Vidyalaya.

Medical

In 2008, the Mittals made a donation of £15 million to Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, the largest private contribution the hospital had ever received. The donation was used to help fund their new facility, the Mittal Children's Medical Centre.

COVID-19 pandemic

He made a donation of ₹100 crores to PM cares fund during the COVID-19 pandemic in India in 2020.

Personal life

Mittal is married to Usha Dalmia. They have a son Aditya Mittal and a daughter Vanisha Mittal.

Lakshmi Mittal has two brothers, Pramod Mittal and Vinod Mittal, and a sister, Seema Lohia, who married Indonesian businessman, Sri Prakash Lohia. His residence at 18–19 Kensington Palace Gardens—which was purchased from Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone in 2004 for £67 million (US$128 million)—made it the world's most expensive house at the time. The house is decorated with marble taken from the same quarry that supplied the Taj Mahal. The extravagant show of wealth has been referred to as the "Taj Mittal". It has 12 bedrooms, an indoor pool, Turkish baths and parking for 20 cars. He is a lacto-vegetarian.

Mittal bought No. 9A Palace Greens, Kensington Gardens, formerly the Philippines Embassy, for £70 million in 2008 for his daughter Vanisha Mittal who is married to Amit Bhatia, a businessman and philanthropist. Mittal threw a lavish "vegetarian reception" for Vanisha in the Palace of Versailles, France.

In 2005, he also bought a colonial bungalow for $30 million at No. 22, Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Road, New Delhi, one of the most exclusive streets in India, occupied by embassies and billionaires, and rebuilt it as a house.

Personal wealth

According to the Sunday Times Rich List 2016, Mittal and his family had an estimated personal net worth of £7.12 billion, a decrease of $2.08 billion on the previous year. Meanwhile, in 2016 Forbes magazine's annual billionaires list assessed estimated Mittal's wealth in 2016 at as the 135th-wealthiest billionaire with a net worth of US$8.4 billion. Mittal's net worth peaked in 2008, assessed by The Sunday Times at £27.70 billion, and by Forbes at US$45.0 billion, and rated as the fourth-wealthiest individual in the world. As of 2022, he was ranked as the 15th richest man in India by Forbes with a net-worth of US$17.8 billion. According to Forbes, Lakshmi Mittal’s net worth is currently estimated at US$16.4 billion as of 2024. He holds the position of the 113th richest individual globally and ranks as the 13th wealthiest person in India.

In October 2024, Mittal was ranked 15th on Forbes list of India’s 100 richest tycoons, with a net worth of $16.7 billion.

Wealth rankings

Legend
Icon	Description
	Has not changed from the previous year's list
	Has increased from the previous year's list
	Has decreased from the previous year's list

Year	The Sunday Times Rich List		Forbes The World's Billionaires
	Rank	Net worth (£) bn	Rank	Net worth (US$) bn
2005			3	$25.00
2006	1	£14.88	5	$23.50
2007	1	£19.25	5	$32.00
2008	1	£27.70	4	$45.00
2009	1	£10.80	8	$19.30
2010	1	£22.45	5	$28.70
2011	1	£17.50	6	$31.10
2012	1	£12.70	21	$20.70
2013	4	£10.00	41	$16.50
2014	3	£10.25	52	$13.70
2015	7	£9.20	82	$13.50
2016	11	£7.12	135	$8.40
2020	19	£6.78	196	$9.70
2024	7	£14.92	113	$16.4

Awards and honours

• Tim Bouquet and Byron Ousey – Cold Steel (Little, Brown, 2008)
• Navalpreet Rangi – Documentary Film (The Man with a Mission, 2010)

References

1. ^ "Cha". Archived from the original on 27 December 2010. Retrieved 7 September 2010.
2. ^ "Lakshmi Mittal Chairman and CEO of Mittal Steel". webindia123.com. Retrieved 22 March 2015.
3. "Laksmi Mittal Profile". Forbes.
4. "Lakshmi Mittal, Owner of Karrick Limited". Bloomberg BusinessWeek. 25 February 2011. Archived from the original on 14 November 2010. Retrieved 25 February 2011.
5. Reed, Stanley; Biesheuvel, Thomas (10 November 2011). "Lakshmi Mittal, the King of Steel, Trips Up". Businessweek. Archived from the original on 14 November 2011. Retrieved 21 July 2014.
6. "LN Mittal, Ratan Tata, Narayana Murthy get Padma Vibhushan". The Times of India. 26 January 2008. Archived from the original on 28 May 2013. Retrieved 26 January 2008.
7. "Mittal's 5-cr gift to Rajasthan hometown". The Times of India. 31 January 2007. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 10 June 2024.
8. "A look at how the steel baron's net worth changed between 55 and 72 years of age". CNBC TV18. 15 June 2022.
9. "Lakshmi Mittal". Forbes. Retrieved 20 May 2020.
10. "APERAM S.A. (APAM)". Surperformance. MarketScreener. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
11. "Lakshmi Mittal buys 20 per cent stake in Queens Park Rangers - Times of India". The Times of India. 21 December 2007. Retrieved 20 May 2020.
12. "Archive News". The Hindu.
13. "Tory pressure over Mittal row". BBC News. London: BBC. 12 February 2002. Retrieved 21 July 2014.
14. ^ "#82 Lakshmi Mittal". The World's Billionaires. Forbes. 21 March 2015. Retrieved 22 March 2015.
15. "Lakshmi Mittal". Forbes. Retrieved 18 October 2024.
16. "The World's Most Powerful People". Forbes. Retrieved 21 March 2015.
17. Lubin, Gus (28 April 2011). "The 12 Most Expensive Weddings in History". Business Insider. Retrieved 21 July 2014.
18. "Board of Directors – Lakshmi N. Mittal". Goldman Sachs. Archived from the original on 21 June 2012. Retrieved 19 July 2012.
19. ^ "Board of directors – Lakshmi N Mittal". ArcelorMittal. Retrieved 5 July 2017.
20. "The 2007 Time 100". Time. Archived from the original on 5 September 2009.
21. "India's Top Billionaires & Schools They Attended". Marketing Mind. 21 April 2020. Retrieved 20 May 2020.
22. "Lakshmi Mittal Biography: Education, Net Worth and His Personal Life". financeninvestments.com. 3 September 2010. Retrieved 7 September 2010.
23. "Nur Saidah: Surabaya's steel woman in a tough industry". The Jakarta Post. 3 April 2006. Archived from the original on 16 October 2014. Retrieved 21 July 2014.
24. Zia Permata Buana (1 July 2007). Kisah sukses Lakshmi Mittal, dari Surabaya ke London: Rahasia Bisnis Orang Asia Terkaya di Dunia (in Indonesian). Hikmah. ISBN 978-979-1140-98-0. Retrieved 21 July 2014.
25. "Interesting facts about Lakshmi Mittal that will inspire you". Business Insider. Retrieved 20 August 2020.
26. ^ "ArcelorMittal Luxembourgian company". Encyclopaedia Britannica. 25 June 2019.
27. Saunders, Andrew (1 January 2013). "From the Caribbean to global steel giant: The rise of ArcelorMittal". Management Today. Retrieved 21 July 2014.
28. ^ "Film featuring ex-Ispat workers in Ireland may make French employees nervous". irishexaminer.com. Irish Examiner. 21 January 2013. Retrieved 6 June 2021.
29. "Ispat steel plant 'could cost taxpayer €70m'". 5 August 2004. Retrieved 6 June 2021. decision by the High Court last week that the State and not Irish Ispat should be responsible for bearing the costs of the clean-up
30. O'Connor, Lisa (8 August 2004). "Steel Plant Mess Bill Has Doubled". Sunday Mirror. Archived from the original on 27 October 2010. Retrieved 7 September 2010.
31. "Ispat Sidex names new board". Euromoney Global Limited. metalbulletin.com. 13 December 2001.
32. "Liberty Galati SA (formerly known as Arcelormittal Galati SA)". SeeNews. 23 March 2021.
33. ^ Rao, HS (29 October 2003). "LNM acquires Romanian steel plant". The Economic Times.
34. ^ Allcock, Sam (16 March 2007). "Poland wants to renegotiate terms of PHS sale to Arcelor Mittal". ABC Money. Retrieved 25 January 2022.
35. "Ispat Tepro increased production by 255%". SteelOrbis. 11 June 2004.
36. "How tycoon went from polo lawns to Polish jail". The Times. 27 November 2004. Retrieved 25 January 2022.
37. Franchetti, Mark; Winnett, Robert (10 June 2007). "UK's richest man in slave labour row". The Times. London. Retrieved 25 January 2022.
38. "Methane Blast Kills at Least 23 at ArcelorMittal Coal Mine in Kazakhstan". IndustriALL. 14 January 2008. Retrieved 13 November 2020.
39. ^ "Plaid reveals Labour steel cash link". BBC News. London: BBC. 11 February 2002. Retrieved 21 July 2014.
40. Verdin, Mike (14 February 2002). "Lakshmi Mittal, steel mill millionaire". BBC News. London: BBC. Retrieved 21 July 2014.
41. ^ "Q&A: 'Garbagegate'". BBC News. London: BBC. 14 February 2002. Retrieved 21 July 2014.
42. "Steel firm condemns 'Mittal aid'". BBC News. London: BBC. 18 February 2002. Retrieved 21 July 2014.
43. "Mittal's Olympic dream is worth Rs 40 crore". Daily News and Analysis. 9 November 2005. Retrieved 21 July 2014.
44. "About the ArcelorMittal Orbit". Retrieved 1 November 2016.
45. "QPR secure huge investment boost". BBC. London. 20 December 2007. Retrieved 20 December 2007.
46. Garside, Kevin (21 December 2007). "Lakshmi Mittal pushes QPR up the rich list". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 25 December 2007. Retrieved 5 August 2021.
47. "Briatore resigns as QPR chairman". Reuters. 19 February 2010. Archived from the original on 4 January 2013. Retrieved 20 February 2010.
48. "Welcome to LNMIIT". www.lnmiit.ac.in.
49. "Mittals' £15m gift to Great Ormond Street is a record". Evening Standard. 9 April 2008.
50. "Coronavirus crisis: Lakshmi Mittal announces Rs 100 cr to PM CARES Fund". www.businesstoday.in. April 2020.
51. "$128M Spend for London House". NBC News. 12 April 2004.
52. Langley, William (21 January 2007). "Profile: Lakshmi Mittal". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022.
53. Turnbull, James (13 July 2007). "Takeover Week: Billionaires Row". Google Sightseeing. Retrieved 21 July 2014.
54. "Photo Gallery: Homes of the Billionaires". Forbes. 22 May 2002. Archived from the original on 15 March 2009. Retrieved 7 September 2010.
55. ^ "On billionaire row, it's simple, veggie fare". The Times of India. 28 September 2008. Archived from the original on 13 November 2013. Retrieved 31 May 2012.
56. "Lakshmi Mittal builds real Utopia". The Times of India. 18 August 2005. Archived from the original on 11 October 2011.
57. ^ Beresford, Philip; Watts, Robert, eds. (24 April 2016). "Rich List". thesundaytimes.co.uk. Archived from the original on 31 December 2010. Retrieved 24 April 2016.
58. Beresford, Philip, ed. (April 2015). "2015 Rich List". thesundaytimes.co.uk. Archived from the original on 31 December 2010. Retrieved 9 October 2015.
59. ^ "#135 Lakshmi Mittal". Forbes. February 2016. Retrieved 9 June 2015.
60. ^ Beresford, Philip, ed. (27 April 2008). "Rich List reveals wealthy reap profits under Labour". The Sunday Times. Retrieved 25 January 2022.
61. ^ "#4 Lakshmi Mittal". Forbes. 5 March 2008. Retrieved 9 June 2015.
62. "Lakshmi Mittal". Forbes. Retrieved 24 January 2023.
63. "Lakshmi Mittal". Forbes. Retrieved 26 May 2024.
64. Peterson-Withorn, Chase. "Forbes World's Billionaires List 2024: The Top 200". Forbes. Retrieved 26 May 2024.
65. "India's 100 Richest". India’s 100 Richest. 9 October 2024.
66. "#5 Lakshmi Mittal". Forbes. 8 March 2007. Retrieved 9 June 2015.
67. Beresford, Philip, ed. (26 April 2009). "Sunday Times Rich List: Bonfire of the billionaires wipes out £155bn fortune". The Sunday Times. Retrieved 25 January 2022.
68. "#8 Lakshmi Mittal". Forbes. 11 March 2009. Retrieved 9 June 2015.
69. "The Sunday Times Rich List 2010: Rising from the rubble". The Sunday Times. 25 April 2010. Archived from the original on 11 June 2011.
70. Beresford, Philip, ed. (25 April 2010). "2010 Rich List". thesundaytimes.co.uk. Archived from the original on 31 December 2010.
71. "#5 Lakshmi Mittal". Forbes. 10 March 2010. Retrieved 9 June 2015.
72. "Fifty Indians on Forbes' global billionaire club". NRI internet. Washington, D.C. 10 March 2011. Retrieved 9 June 2016.
73. Beresford, Philip, ed. (29 April 2012). "2014 Rich List". thesundaytimes.co.uk. Archived from the original on 31 December 2010.
74. "Top 10 Richest People in India: Mukesh Ambani, Lakshmi Mittal, Dilip Shanghvi". International Business Times. 29 October 2013. Retrieved 9 June 2016.
75. Willett, Megan (2013). "Heir style: the rich kids who have it all". Executive Style. Australia. Retrieved 10 June 2016.
76. Stempel, Jonathan (4 March 2014). "Bill Gates tops Forbes billionaire list, Mukesh Ambani richest Indian". Reuters. Archived from the original on 27 February 2016. Retrieved 10 June 2016.
77. "Richest Double wealth". The Guardian. United Kingdom. 26 April 2015. Retrieved 26 April 2015.
78. Flannery, Russell (9 March 2015). "2015 Forbes Billionaires: Full List Of Asia's 562 Richest People". Forbes. Retrieved 10 June 2016.
79. The Rich List 2020 Times Newspapers Limited, 2020
80. #196 Lakshmi Mittal Forbes, 8 September 2020
81. "Forbes Billionaires 2024". Forbes. Retrieved 26 May 2024.
82. "The Sunday Times Rich List 2024". www.thetimes.co.uk. 26 May 2024. Retrieved 26 May 2024.

External links

• Media related to Lakshmi Mittal at Wikimedia Commons
• Profile at Forbes
• Profile at BBC News
• Article on Mittal with background on Arcelor takeover bid – Time
• BBC News Online – "Glimpsing a Fairytale Wedding"
• Mittal Steel Cleveland Works
• Article on Mittal Family purchase of Escada – Bloomberg

• 1950 births
• Living people
• Marwari people
• ArcelorMittal
• Businesspeople in steel
• Directors of Goldman Sachs
• Fellows of King's College London
• Indian billionaires
• Indian chief executives
• Indian emigrants to England
• Labour Party (UK) donors
• People from Churu district
• St. Xavier's College, Kolkata alumni
• Indian Institute of Social Welfare and Business Management alumni
• University of Calcutta alumni
• Rajasthani people
• Bessemer Gold Medal
• Queens Park Rangers F.C. directors and chairmen
• Recipients of the Padma Vibhushan in trade & industry
• 20th-century Indian businesspeople
• Businesspeople from Rajasthan
• Mittal family
• Conservative Party (UK) donors