'Wireless Wonder' and founder-chairman of Bharti Enterprises Ltd, Mr. Sunil Bharti Mittal on Tuesday joined a unique hall of fame as he was conferred the prestigious 'Amalgamations- Madras Management Association (MMA) Business Leadership Award" for 2008-09, for revolutionising telecom in India.
Mr A Sivasailam, Chairman of the Chennai-based 'Amalgamations Group', presented the award to Mr. Mittal at an impressive function in Chennai this evening.
The Award, instituted by 'Amalgamations' in association with MMA in 1969, was in memory of the industrial group's founder late S. Anantharamakrishnan, to honour those who "have set glorious examples of outstanding leadership in business, both at a personal and institutional level." The late JRD Tata was the first recipient of the Award.
Receiving the Award which has such a "distinguished legacy', a visibly moved Mr. Mittal said, seeing the past recipients of this silver trophy, "I was drowned with a great deal of responsibility and I truly feel humble to be in this hall of fame." The MMA was the oldest Management Association in the country, Mr. Mittal recalled.
Sharing certain crucial life-turning moments on that long road to entrepreneurship since he graduated from the Punjab University in 1976 and coming out to "make sense" of the world around him in small town Ludhiana "with Rs 20, 000 in my pocket," Mr. Mittal said his unique business model in the cellular phone business focusing only on the customers and value-addition to them to the point of even outsourcing the network, was a "leap of faith".
{{/usCountry}}Sharing certain crucial life-turning moments on that long road to entrepreneurship since he graduated from the Punjab University in 1976 and coming out to "make sense" of the world around him in small town Ludhiana "with Rs 20, 000 in my pocket," Mr. Mittal said his unique business model in the cellular phone business focusing only on the customers and value-addition to them to the point of even outsourcing the network, was a "leap of faith".
{{/usCountry}}"There was no choice for us, the battle was very fierce to fight," Mittal said to a large audience, adverting to the big names in Indian industry fighting to get a slice of the deregulated telecom sector. 'Now this model is adopted by the world," he said to thunderous ovation from the audience after receiving the Award.
Ms. Jayshree Venkatraman, President, MMA, presented the citation. The Jury panel constituted to select this year's Award, given every two years, included Mr. N. Vaghul, Former Chairman, ICICI Bank Ltd., R. C. Bhargava, Chairman, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd., and Mr. L. Lakshman, Executive Chairman, Rane Holdings Ltd.