Lakshmi Niwas Mittal

Summary

Lakshmi Niwas Mittal is the executive chairman of ArcelorMittal, the world’s largest steel and mining company by output and one of the most influential industrialists of his generation. Mittal was born in 1950 in Sadulpur, Rajasthan and was introduced to the steel business early through his father’s small steel mill in Kolkata. After graduating from St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata, he ventured abroad in 1976 to establish his own steel company in Indonesia, setting the stage for a global empire.

Personal Information

Key Achievements & Major Timelines

• 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 acquired and turned around the state owned steel works in Trinidad and Tobago, which were operating at an enormous loss. Over a period of one year, he turned the facility into a profitable one.
• Since 2004, Mittal created Mittal Steel by merging his publicly owned Ispat International and privately held LNM holdings.
• In 2005, Mittal paid $4.7bn to acquire International Steel Group.
• In 2006-2007, Mittal acquired Luxembourg-based Arcelor, which he renamed Arcelor Mittal. His acquisition obtained him control of the Usinor Steel Assets of France, the Arbed Steel Assets of Luxembourg and the Aceralia Steel Assets of Spain.
• He stepped down as the CEO and named his son, Aditya Mittal, his successor. Mittal took on the mantle of executive chairmanship and continued to lead the board of directors.

Awards and Recognition

• In 1996, Mr. Mittal was given the Steelmaker of the Year award by New Steel in the US.
• In 1998, Mr. Mittal was awarded the Willy Korf Steel Vision Award by th World Steel Dynamics for outstanding vision, entrepreneurship, leadership and success in global steel development.
• In 2004, Mr. Mittal was named Fortune Magazine’s European Businessman of the Year.
• In 2007, Mr. Mittal was presented with a Fellowship from King’s College London, the college’s highest award. He also received the 2007 Dwight D Eisenhower Global Leadership Award, the Grand Cross of Civil Merit from Spain and was named AIST Steelmaker of the year.
• In 2008, Mr. Mittal was awarded the Forbes Lifetime Achievement Award and the Padma Vibhushan, India’s second highest civilian honour, by the President of India.

Challenges & Controversies

In June 2007, Britain’s Unite trade union criticized ArcelorMittal’s coal mining operations in Kazakhstan, where safety conditions had led to the deaths of 90 miners since 2004. The union accused the company of exploiting workers under "slave-like" conditions, prompting ArcelorMittal to highlight its investment of over $260mn in mine safety and modernisation.

Philanthropy and Personal Life

In 2017, the Mittal family made a notable donation to Harvard University, where Lakshmi Mittal serves on the Global Advisory Council. This contribution led to the establishment of the Lakshmi Mittal and Family South Asia Institute at Harvard. They have also supported the Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, helping to fund the Mittal Children’s Medical Centre, which officially opened in January 2018. Additionally, the family has contributed to UNICEF, focusing particularly on addressing child malnutrition in India.

Lakshmi Mittal and his wife, Usha Mittal, have two children: Aditya Mittal, the CEO of ArcelorMittal and Vanisha Mittal Bhatia, who serves as the director at the company.