Sunil Bharti Mittal was born  in Punjab, India and is the founder and Chairman of Bharti Enterprises, one of India’s leading conglomerates. He attended Wynberg Allen School in Mussoorie and later Scindia School at Gwalior, graduating in 1976 from Panjab University, Chandigarh, with a Bachelor of Arts and Science. Mittal founded Bharti Enterprises in the same year. After graduating from Punjab University, Mittal started his own small-scale manufacturer of bicycle parts. He gradually expanded into wool blankets and stainless-steel surgical equipment. After relocating to Bombay, he studied Indian import policies and began an import business.

He was one of the first Indian entrepreneurs to identify the mobile telecom business as a major growth area. Mittal is chairman of Bharti Airtel, an Indian telecommunications company. The New Delhi-based business operates in 17 countries, has more than 490 million customers and had revenue of $18 billion in the year to March 2024. Bharti Airtel is the world’s third biggest mobile service provider. Bharti Enterprises has diversified interests in telecom, space communications, digital solutions, real estate, hospitality, insurance, agri and food, besides other ventures. Bharti has joint ventures with several global partners like SingTel, SoftBank, and AXA. Sunil Mittal is involved in various philanthropic initiatives through the Bharti Foundation, which focuses on education and rural development.

Mittal achieved significant milestones in 2025. In February, he was awarded an Honorary Knighthood (KBE) by King Charles III for strengthening UK–India business ties, particularly through investments in BT and OneWeb.  Airtel announced a landmark tie-up with SpaceX to bring Starlink satellite broadband to India, pending regulatory approval. Indiaspora is proud to have Sunil Mittal  on our Business Leaders 2.0 List.