Lakshmi Mittal

Mr. Lakshmi N. Mittal is one the most powerful Indian - at least on financial terms. He founded his steel company (formerly the LNM Group) in 1976. Over the last couple of decades Mittal has steered this venture into stratospheric heights. Laxmi Mittal’s ability to guide the company in its identification, acquisition and turnaround of steel assets has led to his emergence of the world’s largest steel producer. Mittal began his career working in the family’s steelmaking business in India. Over the last 30 years Mr. Mittal has also championed the development of integrated mini-mills and the use of Direct Reduced Iron or “DRI” as a scrap substitute for steelmaking. Mittal has always preferred to add manufacturing facilities when the steel industry was in a down trend (Arcelor is an exception). During industry downtrends companies sell cheap and Mittal made full use of this logic.

In a recent move Mittal Steel acquired Arcelor of France. Post this deal the new company (Arcelor - Mittal) produces three and a half times as much steel as its closest rival, controls more than 10% of the world's steel production (more than 100 million tonnes and $70 billion in annual sales), employs 320,000 workers in four continents, 32,000 of whom are in France and Luxembourg. Arcelor has a strong presence in Western Europe, while Mittal already operates in 16 countries in Eastern Europe, North America, Africa and Asia.


All through his Arcelor takeover bid Mittal was given a second class treatment. The French Finance Minister remarked that he had a grammar problem while Guy Dolle the CEO of Arcelor called him a specialist at buying out obselete installations. Dolle further compared the Steel that Mittal Compared as cheap "eau de cologne" compared to Arcelor's steel as perfume.


Mr. Mittal is an active philanthropist and a member of various trusts. Mittal Steel is a significant contributor to local community and welfare activities for employees in countries where the Group operates. Mr. Mittal is a member of the Foreign Investment Council in Kazakhstan, the International Investment Council in South Africa, the World Economic Forum’s International Business Council and the International Iron and Steel Institute’s Executive Committee. He is a Director of ICICI Bank Limited and is on the Advisory Board of the Kellogg School of Management in the U.S.. He was born in Sadulpur in Rajasthan, India on June 15, 1950, and graduated from St. Xavier’s College in Calcutta where he received a Bachelor of Commerce degree. He is married to Usha Mittal, and has a son, Aitya Mittal and a daughter, Vanisha Mittal