THE MAN OF STEEL

WRITTEN BY: RISHIKESH MOHAPATRA

Lakshmi Niwas Mittal was born on June 15, 1950 at Sadulpur, in Churu district of Rajasthan, in a poor family. The extended family of 20 lived on bare concrete floors, slept on rope beds and cooked on an open fire in the brickyard in a house built by his grandfather. Laxmi Mittal belongs to Marwari Aggarwal caste and his grandfather worked for the Tarachand Ghanshyam Das firm, one of the leading Marwari industrial firms of pre-independence India. The family later on moved to Kolkata where his father Mohan Mittal became a partner in a steel company. Lakshmi Mittal graduated from St. Xaviers in Kolkata with a commerce degree in 1969. He began his career working in the family's steelmaking business in India

L N Mittal left India in the mid-1970s to start his career. He was sent to Indonesia by his father to shut down the family's ailing steel plant and sell the land. Instead, young Mittal saw an opportunity and turned the plant around. To prove that this was no fluke, Mittal acquired a 1.3 million tonne, Iscot Steel plant in Trinidad & Tobago, which was losing $100,000 a day. One year of Mittal-style management and it was making profits, the LN Mittal legend was born. That move helped him get into America. In 1994 Mittal had differences with his brothers and father, and went on to form his own company. The following year Mittal entered the European market, acquiring the 5 million tonne Kazakh steel plant, Karmet. Meanwhile, Mittal had listed Ispat International on the New York and Amsterdam Stock Exchanges in 1997.

Various acquisitions made by L N MITTAL in his carrier are:-

1989: Acquisition of Iron & Steel Company of Trinidad & Tobago

1992: Acquisition of Sibalsa

1994: Acquisition of Sidbec-Dosco

1995: Acquisitions of Hamburger Stahlwerke, which formed Ispat International Ltd. and Ispat Shipping, and Karmet

1997: Acquisitions of Walzdraht Hochfeld GmbH and Stahlwerk Ruhrort

1997: Ispat International NV goes public

1998: Acquisition of Inland Steel Company

1999: Acquisition of Unimétal

2001: Acquisitions of ALFASID and Sidex

2002: Business assistance agreement signed with Iscor

2003: Acquisition of Nowa Huta

2004: Acquisitions of Polskie Huty Stali, BH Steel, Macedonian facilities from Balkan Steel. Creation of Mittal Steel

2005: Hire Deloitte as the primary auditors for the company

2005: Acquisition of International Steel Group

2005: Acquisition of Kryvorizhstal

2005: Investment of $9 billion in Jharkhand, India announced

2006: Merger with Arcelor announced and completed after much controversy

2006: Investment for 12 million tonnes capacity steel plant announced in Orissa, India

The great year for L N MITTAL that is 2006. (ARCELOR -MITTAL DEAL)

Aditya, Mittal's Wharton educated son and heir apparent says he first suggested the idea of combining with Arcelor to father in October last year. Mittal loved the idea. It was then discussed with a select group of senior executives, who were equally excited about the possibilities. "We said why we hadn’t thought of it before," says one. But first, they needed to talk to ARCELOR. Then after 6-7 months on June 2006 - Historic agreement made to create the No.1 Global Steel Company that is ARCELORMITTAL STEEL company.

He presently resides in Kensington, London. His residence at Kensington Palace Gardens 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 that date. 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 deemed the "Taj Mittal".

Although born in India, Mittal has no operations in his native country. His company is headquartered in the Netherlands, with plants spread over 14 countries - from Trinidad and Tobago to Kazakhstan. The steel magnate lives in London. But Mittal is a symbol of success here, and a source of inspiration for many Indian entrepreneurs with global ambitions.

Our former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram told The Economic Times that:-

"We are happy and proud that an Indian-born entrepreneur is the biggest steel maker in the world,"

That’s all about the “MAN OF STEEL”