Sunil Mittal at Hindustan Times Leadership Summit LIVE: Bharti Airtel founder and chairman Sunil Mittal spoke to former G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant on Saturday at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit 2025. Airtel founder and chairman Sunil Mittal (Photo by Harikrishna Hindustan Katragadda/Mint) found Sunil Mittal LIVE at Airtel Leadership and Airtel Leadership: Chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal spoke to former G20 Sherpa and former CEO of NITI Aayog Amitabh Kant on Saturday at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit 2025. Sunil Mittal started his first business in April 1976 when he was 18 with a loan of ₹20,000 from his father. Currently, his net worth stands at $34.2 billion (approximately ₹3 lakh crore). Sunil Mittal Interview LIVE: The single factor why Airtel survived despite competition When asked about competition, Sunil Mittal said Airtel was dealing with one player in particular, in a veiled reference to Vodafone Idea. “We managed other players. One single factor that allowed us to survive was our people, the talent we had,” he said. Sunil Mittal Interview LIVE: Bharti Airtel Chairman on Africa Business. Talking about Airtel’s Africa business, Sunil Mittal said, “The first 10 years were very difficult… It was like a shock. We went in with the same playbook – low cost, massive expansion, but it took 6-7 years to crack the market.” Sunil Mittal Interview LIVE: Sunil Mittal Reveals The Ad That Changed It All “We didn’t import phones, we manufactured phones. In the late 80s we were doing well, but I wanted to do something more.” He further revealed that it was a government advertisement in 2001, which he read during a vacation in Goa, that started everything for Airtel as a company. Before that, the company sold Beetel landline phones with operations in Mumbai. But then Airtel got the license to operate as a telecom operator. HTLS 2025 LIVE: Who are the speakers today? The speakers at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit 2025 on December 6 include Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, CJI Justice Surya Kant, EAM S. Jaishankar, Bharti Airter Chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal, J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, Indian Women’s Cricket Team. UP CM Yogi Adityanath, Delhi CM Rekha Gupta, Prof. James K. Galbraith, Michael Kugelman, Kate Sullivan de Estrada, Google DeepMind executive Pushmeet Kohli, and actors Aamir Khan Hugh Grant. Hindustan Times Leadership Summit 2025 LIVE: What is the theme this year? The Hindustan Times Leadership Summit 2025 is underway, with the biggest event of Hindustan Times Group. The theme; “Transforming Tomorrow”, captures the spirit of innovation, resilience and reinvention that defines our era.