Lakshmi Mittal

Lore & Background

Lakshmi Niwas Mittal was born on 15 June 1950 in Sadulpur, Rajasthan, to a Marwari family. He studied at Shri Daulatram Nopany Vidyalaya in Calcutta from 1957 to 1964 and graduated from St. Xavier's College, affiliated with the University of Calcutta, with a B.Com degree in the first class. His father, Mohanlal Mittal, ran a steel business called Nippon Denro Ispat. In 1976, due to Indian government curbs on steel production, the 26-year-old Mittal opened his first steel factory, PT Ispat Indo, in Sidoarjo, East Java, Indonesia. He later purchased state-owned steel works in Trinidad and Tobago in 1989, turning them profitable within a year, and acquired the Irish Steel plant in Cork in 1995 for a nominal fee of IR£1, though it closed in 2001 with over 400 redundancies and subsequent environmental cleanup costs estimated at €70 million. In 2006–07, Mittal succeeded in a hostile takeover of Arcelor, renaming it ArcelorMittal, gaining control of steel assets in France, Luxembourg, and Spain.

Reader's Guide

Lakshmi Mittal's significance lies in his transformation of the global steel industry through a series of bold acquisitions, culminating in the creation of ArcelorMittal, the world's second largest steelmaker. His rise from a single Indonesian factory to controlling assets across Europe, Asia, and the Americas exemplifies the globalization of heavy industry in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. However, his legacy is mixed: while he has been recognized as Business Person of the Year by The Sunday Times and Person of the Year by the Financial Times in 2005, and included in Time's 2007 'Time 100' list, his career has also faced criticism. Controversies include allegations of 'slave labour' conditions after fatal mine explosions in Kazakhstan in 2004, a lobbying scandal involving British Prime Minister Tony Blair's letter to the Romanian government in 2002, and environmental issues from the Irish Steel plant closure. Mittal's philanthropic efforts include founding the LNM Institute of Information Technology in Jaipur in 2003, a £15 million donation to Great Ormond Street Hospital in 2008, and setting up the Mittal Champions Trust with $9 million to support Indian athletes. His net worth was estimated at £15.444 billion by the Sunday Times Rich List in 2025.

Did You Know?

• 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.
• Mittal purchased the Irish Steel plant in Cork in 1995 for a nominal fee of IR£1; it closed in 2001, leaving over 400 people redundant.
• He donated £15 million to Great Ormond Street Hospital in London in 2008, the largest private contribution the hospital had ever received.
• In May 2024, a consortium led by Mittal acquired the Indian Premier League team Rajasthan Royals for $1.65 billion, with Mittal holding a 75% stake.