Lakshmi Niwas Mittal

Some Lesser Known Facts About Lakshmi Mittal

• Does Lakshmi Mittal smoke?: No

• Does Lakshmi Mittal drink Alcohol?: Not Known

• Lakshmi Mittal was born in a village named Sadulpur, where there was no electricity until 1960’s.

• In his childhood, he used to sleep on mats and floor; as he lived in a small house with 25 family members.

• His family then relocated to Calcutta where his father established a small steel mill. Lakshmi used to work with his father after his school.

• His admission to St. Xavier’s College was initially declined by the administration; as his schooling was from a Hindi medium background, but later he topped the college and graduated in first class.

• In the early 70s, he joined his father’s company after completing his graduation.

• After the Indian government reined the production of steel in 1976, he went to Indonesia and founded a steel plant titled “Ispat Indo” over there with the support of his father.

• With passing years, he became famous worldwide as a businessman who buys loss-driven companies and turned them into profitable organisations.

• In 1989, he purchased a government-owned firm in Trinidad and Tobago, which was making a loss of $1 million a day and converted it into a productive venture. It was later reported that Lakshmi transformed the luck of the organisation, as it was the situation to which even German experts and the US consultants failed to resolve.

• Lakshmi Mittal has also contributed a lot to sports; as he has set up Mittal Champions Trust to support ten Indian athletes who can compete at the international level. He also awarded ₹1.5 crore to Abhinav Bindra for becoming the first Indian to grab an Olympic gold medal in shooting.

• His steel production company- Arcelor Mittal has contributed steel for the construction of ArcelorMittal Orbit (named after his company) for the 2012 Summer Olympics. 

• He bought the country’s third-largest steel producer Sicartsa for $220 million. After this, he acquired Siderurgica del Balsas SA at Lazaro Cardenas in Mexico and many more organisations in Canada, Ireland, Germany, etc. in 1992.

• Mittal reflected the same policy in the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan and purchased the state-owned blast furnace steel plant renamed to Ispat Karmet in 1995. 

• The same year, he established two new companies- Ispat International Ltd. and Ispat Shipping to produce commercial, shipping, and technical services to the group. He also went Europe to buy the steel plant in Hamburg, Germany.

• Lakshmi Mittal was titled the “Steel Maker of the Year” by New Steel Magazine in the USA in 1996.

• In 1998, he was honoured with the Eighth Honorary Willy Korf Steel Vision Award, which is the highest appreciation for worldwide achievement in the steel industry.

• Apart from setting up steel plants all over the world, he has established a university- The LNM Institute of Information Technology (LNMIIT) in Jaipur in 2003, which is financed by Lakshmi Mittal and Usha Mittal Foundation. 

• In 2005, he became the world’s third-richest person ranked by Forbes. 

• In the May 2007 feature of Times Magazine, he was named amongst the “100 Most Influential People” list. 

• Mittal was awarded “Forbes Lifetime Achievement Award” presented by Forbes in 2008. 

• The Lakshmi Mittal and Usha Mittal Foundation also founded the “Usha Lakshmi Mittal Institute of Management” in New Delhi in 2009.

• He was honoured with Padma Vibhushan Award by Pratibha Patil. 

• He conducted his daughter’s wedding reception in the Palace of Versailles and was the first person who was permitted to organise a private function over there. 

• The Forbes Magazine placed him on “Most Powerful People” list at rank 47 out of 70 individuals in total.

• Lakshmi Niwas Mittal Foundation donated a handsome amount of fund to Institute of Technology for Women, which was later renamed to Usha Mittal Institute of Technology. 

• In 2006, he tried to buy Arcelor, but the then CEO, Guy Dolle, rejected his offer of $24 billion. Later, due to some disturbance in the shares, Guy Dolle fixed the deal at $33.5 billion.

• After the departure of Guy Dolle (Former CEO of Arcelor), Lakshmi Mittal has been working as the chairman and CEO of ArcelorMittal, the world’s largest steelmaking company with over 260,000 employees in more than 60 countries. 

• In 2010, he was conferred the “Dostyk 1 Award” by the Republic of Kazakhstan.

• He has also donated an amount of £15 million to Great Ormond Street Hospital, which is the highest private contribution, the hospital has ever received. Through this funding, their new centre- Mittal Children’s Medical Centre was established.

• He got married to the love of his life, Usha Mittal, and they have one daughter- Vanisha Mittal, and one son- Aditya Mittal, CFO of ArcelorMittal.

• Besides owning great steel industries, he is famous for living a lavish lifestyle. He has bought his current residence i.e. 18-19 Kensington Palace Gardens for $128 million. The interiors of the house are furnished by the marble taken from the same mining that was provided to build the Taj Mahal and that’s why media has nicknamed his house “Taj Mittal.”