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Lakshmi Niwas Mittal (born 15 June 1950) is a British Indian steel tycoon. He is the CEO and founder of and has been the chairman and CEO of ArcelorMittal since the merge.

As of April 2010, Mittal is the richest man in Europe and the fifth richest in the world with a personal wealth of US$28.7 billion or £19.3 billion. The Financial Times named Mittal Person of the Year in 2006. In May 2007, he was named one of the "100 Most Influential People" by Time magazine.

He serves as a non-executive director of Goldman Sachs, EADS and ICICI Bank and is presently the vice chairman of the World Steel Association. Mittal is a member of the Foreign Investment Council in Kazakhstan, the International Investment Council in South Africa, the World Economic Forum’s International Business Council and the International Iron and Steel Institute’s Executive Committee. He is a member in the Advisory Board of the Kellogg School of Management.

Early Life

He was born in Sadulpur village, in the Churu district of Rajasthan, India. Lakshmi Nivas Mittal was born into a business family of Rajasthan. Mittal started his career working in the family's steelmaking 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 has over 30 years of experience working in steel and related industries. Mittal founded the company Mittal Steel (formerly the LNM Group) in 1976 and has been responsible for the development of its businesses ever since. Mittal Steel is a global steel producer with operations in 14 countries.

Mittal pioneered the development of integrated mini-mills and the use of direct reduced iron or “DRI” as a scrap substitute for steelmaking and led the consolidation process of the global steel industry. Mittal Steel is the largest steelmaker in the world, with shipments of 42.1 million tons of steel and profits of over $22 billion in 2004.

Mittal was awarded Fortune magazine's “European Businessman of the Year 2004” and also “Steelmaker of the Year” in 1996 by New Steel, and the “Willy Korf Steel Vision Award” in 1998, for outstanding vision, entrepreneurship, leadership and success in global steel development from American Metal Market and PaineWeber’s World Steel Dynamics. In 2002, he was involved in a political scandal with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, when a donation he made to the Labour party led to Blair's intervention in a business deal favoring Mittal. It was announced later that he donated £2 million to the Labour Party.

Growing wealth

In 2010, Forbes magazine listed Mittal the world's fifth richest person with personal wealth of US$28.7 billion. His wealth has grown by over US$9 billion compared to 2009 and is up 3 places in the Forbes ranking.

In 2009, Forbes magazine listed Mittal the world's eighth richest person with personal wealth of US$19.3 billion.

In 2008, Mittal was reported to be the fourth 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 before. The Mittal family owns a controlling majority stake in ArcelorMittal, the world's largest steel company.

Charity and Causes

After witnessing India win only one medal, bronze, in the 2000 Summer Olympics, and one medal, silver, at the 2004 Summer Olympics, Mittal decided to set up Mittal Champions Trust with US$9 million to support 10 Indian athletes with world-beating potential.In 2008 Mittal awarded Abhinav Bindra with Rs. 1.5 Crore, for getting India its first individual Olympic gold medal in shooting.

For Comic Relief 2007, he matched the money raised (~£1 million) on the celebrity special BBC programme, The Apprentice.

ArcelorMittal also has a very active CSR program under which it sets out its path to produce Safe Sustainable Steel. The company also operates the ArcelorMittal Foundation, which provides support to many different community projects around the world in the countries where ArcelorMittal operates.

Criticism and allegations

Slave-labour allegations

Employees of Mittal have accused him of "slave labour" conditions after multiple fatalities in his mines. During December 2004, twenty-three miners died in explosions in his mines in Kazakhstan caused by faulty gas detectors.

The Mittal Affair: "Cash for Influence

Controversy erupted in 2002 as Plaid MP Adam Price exposed the link between UK prime minister Tony Blair and Mittal in the Mittal Affair, also known as 'Garbagegate' or Cash for Influence. Mittal's LNM steel company, registered in the Dutch Antilles and maintaining less than 1% of its 100,000 plus workforce in the UK, sought Blair's aid in its bid to purchase Romania's state steel industry. The letter from Blair to the Romanian government, a copy of which Price was able to obtain, hinted that the privatisation of the firm and sale to Mittal might help smooth the way for Romania's entry into the European Union.

The letter had a passage in it removed just prior to Blair's signing of it, describing Mittal as "a friend."

Queens Park Rangers

Recently, Mittal had emerged as a leading contender to buy and sell Barclays Premiership clubs Wigan and Everton. However on 20 December 2007 it was announced that the Mittal family had purchased a 20 per cent shareholding in Queens Park Rangers football club joining Flavio Briatore and Mittal's friend Bernie Ecclestone. As part of the investment Mittal's son-in-law, Amit Bhatia, took a place on the board of directors. The combined investment in the struggling club sparked suggestions that Mittal might be looking to join the growing ranks of wealthy individuals investing heavily in English football and emulating other similar benefactors such as Roman Abramovich.

On 19 February 2010, Flavio Briatore resigned as QPR chairman, and sold further shares in the club to Mittal, making Mittal the single largest shareholder.

Self-Bonus

Mittal paid himself a bonus totaling GB£1.1bn out of company funds in 2004 after a takeover of a U.S.-based steelmaker, ISG.

Environmental damage

Mittal purchased the Irish Steel plant based in Cork from the government for a nominal fee of £1. Three years later in 2001, it was closed, leaving 400 people redundant. Subsequent environmental issues at the site have been a cause for criticism. The Government tried to sue in the High Court to have him pay for the clean-up of Cork Harbour but failed. The clean up was expected to cost €70m.

Personal life

He presently lives in Kensington, London. His residence at 18-19 Kensington Palace Gardens which 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 the time. Mittal's house in Kensington, London is decorated with marble taken from the same quarry that supplied the Taj Mahal. The extravagant show of wealth has been referred to as the "Taj Mittal". It has 12 bedrooms, an indoor pool, Turkish baths and parking for 20 cars.

Mittal bought No.6 Palace Greens, Gardens, formerly owned by financier Noam Gottesman, at £117 million for his son Aditya Mittal.

Mitaal bought No.9a Palace Greens, Kensington Gardens, formerly the Filipino embassy, at £70 million in 2008 for his daughter Vanisha Mittal Bhatia.

Mittal owns three prime properties collectively worth £500 million on the "Billionaire's Row" at Kensington Palace Gardens.

A property at 21 Curzon Street in Mayfair was purchased as a wedding present for his daughter Vanisha Mittal with Amit Bhatia and was kitted out at a cost of £8m by Candy and Candy. The 26,000-square-feet house has an attached mews house which contains a full-size squash court and a night club.

Mittal also owns a house called Summer Palace at 46B, Bishops Avenue, which is dubbed as "Millionares Row" and is reportedly for sale at £40 million.

In 2005, he also bought a colonial bungalow for $7.5 million at No.22, Aurangzeb Road in New Delhi, India, the most exclusive street in the city occupied by embassies and millionaires, and rebuilt it as a house.