Lakshmi Mittal

Lakshmi Mittal is an Indian industrialist based in the United Kingdom. He was born in Sadulpur village, in the Churu district of Rajasthan, India, and he resides in Kensington, London. He is the Chairman and CEO of ArcelorMittal (founder of Mittal before merger with Arcelor) and also serves as a non-executive director of Goldman Sachs, EADS and ICICI Bank.

Mittal was born in a Rajasthan Agrawal family and spent his initial years in India, living with his extended family on bare floors and rope beds in a house built by his grandfather. The family eventually moved to Calcutta where his father, Mohan, became a partner in a steel company and made a fortune. Mittal graduated from St. Xavier's College in Calcutta with a Bachelor of Commerce degree in Business and Accounting in 1969.

Mr. Mittal began his career working in the family's steel making business in India, and in 1976, when the family founded its own steel business, he set out to establish its international division, beginning with the buying of a run-down plant in Indonesia. Shortly afterwards he married Usha, the daughter of a well-to-do moneylender. In 1994, due to differences with his father, mother and brothers, he branched out on his own, taking over the international operations of the Mittal steel business, which was already owned by the family. Mittal\'s family never spoke publicly about the reasons for the split.

In March 2008, Mittal was reported to be the 4th wealthiest person in the world, and the wealthiest in Asia, by Forbes Magazine (up from 61st. richest in 2004) up one place since a year ago. The Mittal family owns a controlling majority stake in ArcelorMittal, the world\'s largest steel company. His residence at Kensington Palace Gardens was purchased from Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone in 2004 for �57 million (US$128 million), making it the world\'s most expensive house, at that date.

In 2008 Mittal awarded Abhinav Bindra with Rs. 1.5 Crore, for getting India its first individual Olympic gold medal in shooting.

Awards

2008: Padma Vibhushan

2007: Bessemer Gold Medal

2006: Person of the Year - Financial Times

2004: European Businessman of the Year - Fortune magazine

1998: Willy Korf Steel Vision Award - American Metal Market and PaineWebers World Steel Dynamics

1996: Steelmaker of the Year - New Steel