Bharti

Sunil Bharti Mittal is the Founder and Chairman of Bharti Enterprises, one of India’s foremost first-generation corporations with interests in Telecom, Space Communications, Digital Solutions, Real Estate and Hospitality. Bharti has joint ventures with several global partners like SingTel, SoftBank, Del Monte, the UK and French Government, amongst others.

Bharti Airtel, the flagship company of Bharti Enterprises, is a leading telecommunications company with operations in 17 countries and ranks amongst the top three mobile operators globally. Airtel is India’s largest integrated communications solutions provider and Sub-Saharan Africa’s second-largest mobile operator, serving over half a billion customers across its operations.

Sunil is the Co-Chairman of Eutelsat Group, a global leader in satellite communications, delivering connectivity and broadcast services worldwide. Eutelsat Group is listed on the Euronext Paris Stock Exchange, with Bharti as its single largest shareholder.

Sunil is a recipient of the Padma Bhushan, one of India’s highest civilian honors, awarded to individuals for demonstrating distinguished services of high order. In 2024, he was conferred as an Honorary Knight of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (KBE) making him the first Indian citizen to receive this recognition from HM King Charles III. KBE is one of the most prestigious civil honors bestowed by the British Sovereign, in an honorary capacity to foreign nationals

He is a recipient of Harvard Business School’s Alumni Achievement Award, the highest alumni honor given by the institute. He is on Harvard University’s Global Advisory Council and has served on the Board of Dean’s Advisors at Harvard Business School. Sunil received GSM Association’s prestigious Chairman’s Award and has been conferred Honorary Doctorates by several leading universities in India and Europe.

Sunil has served as the Chairman of the International Chamber of Commerce and the Chairman of GSM Association concurrently from 2016 to 2018. He has been a Trustee at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace from 2009 to 2021. Sunil served as Chair of the B20 India Action Council on African Economic Integration during India’s G20 Presidency. He is also a serving Commissioner at the International Telecommunication Union/UNESCO Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development. He is a member of the World Economic Forum’s International Business Council and a member of the Global Board of Advisors at the Council on Foreign Relations. Sunil has served on the boards of several multinational companies including Unilever PLC, Standard Chartered Bank PLC and SoftBank Corp.

Sunil is closely associated with spearheading the Indian industry’s global trade and investments initiatives. He has served as the President of the Confederation of Indian Industry and has served on the Prime Minister of India’s Council on Trade and Industry. He is Co-Chair of the ICT and Emerging Technologies Working Group of the India-US CEO Forum and a member of the India-UK, India-Japan, India-Sweden CEO Forums. He is Co-Chair of the India-Africa Business Council.

Sunil believes that a responsible corporate has a duty to give back to the community in which it operates. This belief has resulted in Bharti Airtel Foundation, which currently runs more than 173 Satya Bharti Schools and supports over 800 government schools under its Quality Support Program to ensure holistic education.

Rakesh Bharti Mittal is the Vice-Chairman of Bharti Enterprises, one of India’s leading business groups with interests in Telecom Services, Digital Infrastructure & Devices, Space Communications, Financial Services, Processed Foods and Real Estate. He is the Chairman of Del Monte Foods and Bharti AXA Life Insurance. He is also a Non-Executive Director - Bharti Airtel and Managing Director - Bharti Land.

Bharti Airtel, the flagship company of Bharti Enterprises, is a global telecommunications company with operations in 17 countries and ranks amongst the top three mobile operators globally. One of the largest integrated telecom providers in India and Sub-Saharan Africa, Bharti Airtel serves over half a billion customers across its operations.

Rakesh served as the President of CII for the year 2018-19. He is the Co-Chair of the India-Uzbekistan Business Council. Rakesh is also a member of the India-UK CEO Forum, CII Australia-India Business Champions, India-Japan Business Leaders’ Forum and the India-Pakistan Joint Business Forum. He is a Life Member of Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) and a Member of the Founding Circle of Centre for Social and Economic Progress. Rakesh also serves as a Member of the Governing Body of Chandigarh Centre for Performing and Visual Arts.

A passionate advocate for quality education, Rakesh is actively engaged in enhancing school and higher education through multiple roles. He is a member of the Board at the Indian School of Business (ISB), Chairman of the ISB Mohali Campus Advisory Board and Chairman of the Advisory Council of the Bharti Institute of Public Policy. Additionally, he is a Member of the Board of Trustees and the Governing Body Member at Plaksha University. Rakesh is the Co-Chairman of the Advisory Board of Bharti School of Telecommunication Technology & Management at IIT Delhi. Rakesh has served as a Member of the All India Board of Studies for Post-Graduate Education & Research in Engineering & Technology (AIB-PGERT). Rakesh is the Chairman of the Governing Council of Sat Paul Mittal School, Chairman and Founder of Satya School and the Founder Chairman of Horizon School of Excellence.

Rakesh Bharti Mittal is a strong advocate of supporting the cause of quality education and uplifting vulnerable sections of society. He is the Co-Chairman of the group’s philanthropic arm, Bharti Airtel Foundation. The Foundation currently operates 173 Satya Bharti Schools reaching nearly 40,000 students. So far, it has partnered with over 25,000 governments schools under the Quality Support Program and engaged in large scale initiatives with various state governments. Through its concerted efforts, Bharti Foundation has benefitted nearly 3 million children since its inception having reached more than 5.8 million beneficiaries including children, teachers, parents and rural communities in 18 States and UTs.

Rakesh has been awarded the Honorary Doctorate of Civil Law by Newcastle University, UK. He has served as the Honorary Consul for the Republic of Sierra Leone in India from 2014 to 2020. He is a recipient of the Udyog Ratna Award 2023 from the Panjab University, the prestigious ‘Horasis – Indian Business Leader of the Year 2016 Award’ and ‘Institute of Engineers Award 2004’. He has received the ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’ from S.C.D. College, Ludhiana and was recognized as a Distinguished Alumni of J.C. Bose University of Science & Technology, YMCA, Faridabad.

Rajan Bharti Mittal is the Vice-Chairman of Bharti Enterprises, one of India’s leading conglomerates with diversified interests in Telecom, Space Communications, Digital Solutions, Financial Services, Real Estate, Processed foods in addition to other ventures. Bharti has joint ventures with several global leaders: Singtel, Del Monte, SoftBank, the UK and French Government amongst others.

Bharti Airtel, the flagship company of Bharti Enterprises, is a global telecommunications company with operations in 17 countries across South Asia and Africa. The company ranks amongst the top three mobile operators globally and its mobile network covers a population of over two billion people. Airtel is India’s largest integrated telecom provider and the second largest mobile operator in Sub-Saharan Africa. Airtel serves nearly half a billion customers across its operations.

Born in 1960, Rajan joined Bharti Enterprises after graduating from Panjab University. An alumnus of Harvard Business School, he is actively involved in overseeing the activities of the group at the corporate level. With his rich experience in the marketing function, he is also involved in many of the new business ventures of the Group.

Rajan serves as a member of several industry associations and policymaking bodies. He is currently an Honorary Member at the Board of Trustees of Brookings Institution, the world’s oldest and most prestigious think tank and a member of the President’s Council on International Activities (PCIA), Yale University.

Rajan is amongst the Champions of EDISON Alliance at the World Economic Forum (WEF) - a cross-sector platform to accelerate collaborative action for digital inclusion. Rajan is a leading member of the WEF initiative on Alliance of CEO Climate Action Leaders India - a high-level platform for business leaders to support concrete plans and ideas to step up India’s climate action and green transition efforts. He is also a member of the India-Singapore CEO Forum.

He served as the President of International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) India in 2012-13. He was also the President of Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) for the year 2009 - 2010 and is currently a Member of its Executive & Steering Committees. Rajan has also served as the President of Association of Basic Telecom Operators (now known as Association of Unified Telecom Service Providers of India - AUSPI) for 1999-2000.

Rajan has been honored with the “Indian Business Leader of the Year Award 2011” by Horasis, The Global Visions Community and has also been awarded the “Leonardo International Prize 2012” by Comitato Leonardo, the Italian Quality Committee.

Akhil is the Vice Chairman of Bharti Enterprises. He has played a pivotal role in Bharti’s phenomenal growth right since inception - both organically and by way of various acquisitions.

He has led the formation of various partnerships for Bharti with leading international operators like British Telecom, Telecom Italia, Singapore Telecom and Vodafone in addition to induction of leading financial investors like Warburg Pincus, Temasek, KKR, Qatar Foundation Endowment, AIF and Sequoia among many other Private Equity funds. He has also been instrumental in raising several billion dollars by way of project finance for the Group over the years from global banks, bond markets and Export Credit Agencies (ECAs).

He has conceptualized and implemented the transformational initiatives that include the outsourcing deals undertaken by the group in the areas of Information Technology (IT) with IBM and Network Management. He has also been responsible for the separation of passive mobile infrastructure and forming Indus Towers - a Joint Venture with Vodafone and Idea, which is one of the largest tower companies in the world and is a unique example of collaborating at the backend while competing at the front end.

In 2010, he was instrumental in the acquisition of Zain Group’s mobile operations in 15 countries across Africa.

He has also spearheaded the successful public listings of Bharti Airtel (2002), Bharti Infratel (2012) and Airtel Africa (2019) and has been instrumental in introducing Global benchmarks like full Quarterly audits and transparent Quarterly reports to provide all relevant information to investors & stakeholders. Consequently, Bharti Airtel and Bharti Infratel have been constantly awarded highest ratings for Corporate Governance and are acknowledged globally for highest standards of ethics.

He is President Emeritus of TSSC (Telecom Sector Skill Council), Patron Member and Ex-Chairman of DIPA (Digital Infrastructure Providers Association), member of CII National Committee on Telecom & Broadband, member of CII Task Force on Insolvency and Bankruptcy and has been a member of the Advisory Committee on Service Providers of Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India and Sub Committee of Insolvency Law Committee, Government of India.

He is on the board of a prominent E-Commerce company – Acevector and has played an active part in its turnaround. He is also on the board of 360 One Wam Ltd., a leading listed Wealth and Assessment management company.

He represents the Indian Telecom Industry and Bharti regularly at various forums and important seminars.

He is a Chartered Accountant by qualification with over 40 years of professional experience. He has also done an “Advanced Management Program” at the Harvard Business School in the year 2002.

He is the recipient of numerous awards which include ET Telecom Lifetime Achievement Award, Voice&Data Lifetime Contribution Award, EY Entrepreneur of the Year Award as an Entrepreneur CEO, CA Lifetime Achievement Award by ICAI, CA Global Achiever Award by ICAI, Lifetime Achievement Award by Amity University, CEO of the Year award at National Telecom Awards, CA Business Achiever award by ICAI, Asia Corporate Dealmaker award at the Asia Pacific M&A Atlas Awards, Best CFO awards in multiple categories by CNBC–TV18 and induction to Hall of Fame by CFO India.

His book ‘Some Sizes Fit All’ on management has been published by Penguin Random House.

Mr. Gopal Vittal has served as the Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer of Bharti Airtel Limited for the last eleven years. In his role as CEO, he is responsible for defining the strategy and providing overall leadership to the operations of the company.

Under his leadership, Airtel has built a strong portfolio of businesses across Mobile, Homes, Enterprise and Digital services. In the last few years, he has driven the digital transformation of the business, improving experience, stripping out cost and re-imagining the business. As a result, Airtel has achieved a lifetime high in terms of both revenue market share and Enterprise value in a brutally competitive market place.

Prior to this, Gopal worked for twenty years with Unilever across sales, marketing and general management in markets spanning India, Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia and China. In his last assignment, as member of the Hindustan Unilever board, he led the Home and Personal care business and turned around the overall portfolio including Personal care, a segment that was declining for several years.

Gopal sits on the board of Bharti Airtel Limited, Indus Towers and Airtel Payments bank in addition to serving as Deputy Chair of GSMA, the premier global association of the mobile industry with over 1200 members across the world. He is an alumnus of Madras Christian and completed his MBA from IIM, Kolkata.

Dr Olusegun Ogunsanya joined Airtel Africa as managing director and CEO of Airtel Nigeria in 2013 where he has been responsible for the overall management of operations in Nigeria, our largest market in Africa. He took over as chief executive officer of Airtel Africa plc in October 2021. To this role, he brings a depth of knowledge about African markets and more than 25 years of business management experience in banking, consumer goods and telecoms garnered across multiple geographies (Ghana, Kenya and Nigeria), organisations and diverse sectors, including consultancy, banking, fast-moving consumer goods and telecommunications.

Segun sits on the Board of Airtel Africa plc and attends Audit and Risk Committee meetings. He chairs the Sustainability Committee and is invited to attend the Remuneration and Nominations Committee meetings.

Before joining Airtel in 2013, Segun held leadership roles at Coca-Cola’s bottling operations in Ghana, Kenya and Nigeria (as CEO). He has also been the managing director of Nigerian Bottling Company Ltd (Coca-Cola Hellenic owned) and head of retail banking operations at Ecobank Transnational Inc, covering 28 countries in Africa.

Segun is a chartered accountant and holds a degree in electrical and electronics engineering. He is a member of the Institute of Credit Administration and Institute of Directors in Nigeria. He is also an honorary fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Food Science and Technology (NIFTS). Segun serves on the Board of Nigeria Economic Summit Group, the foremost private sector advocacy group in Nigeria. He is also Board director at Grange Education Limited (Grange School) in Lagos, Nigeria.

In 2021 Segun has been recognised as the ‘African Business Leader of the Year’ at the African Business Leadership Awards.

Rajesh Sud is Managing Director – Financial Services, Bharti Enterprises since 2019. He currently serves as a Director on the Board of Bharti AXA Life Insurance and Airtel Payments Bank, providing strategic guidance and mentorship to the CEOs and the management teams.

Prior to joining Bharti group, Rajesh was a founder member of Max Life Insurance for 18 years and led it as CEO & Managing Director of Max Life for over ten years. During this period, Max Life became India’s 4th largest private life insurer and the largest non-bank promoted life insurance company. He also served as the Chairman of Max Bupa Health Insurance and Max Skill First, a training and skilling company. Prior to joining Max Life Insurance, Rajesh was Head of Asset Finance at ANZ Grindlays Bank and was the CEO & Managing Director of Esanda Finance India – its subsidiary finance company. Rajesh started his career with Bank of America in 1992, and was a key member of the Bank’s consumer banking leadership team.

He was Co-Chairman, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Committee on Insurance and Pensions for 2015, 2016 & 2018. He has also been the Chairman, Life Council Committee on Awareness and Consumer Education (2014 & 2018).

Rajesh is passionate about building and leading high-performance institutions, inspiring teams and mentoring & supporting select startups. He is a Founder Member and Past President of The FMS Forum set up to enhance industry interaction and assist his alma mater, Faculty of Management Studies, Delhi University, one of India’s premier management education institute.

Sushil Kumar Sayal is Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Managing Director (MD) of Bharti Realty Limited since 2014, providing leadership while conceptualizing and implementing a scalable business strategy. Sayal has ably led the transformative development of marquee real estate projects by Bharti Realty.

Sayal has been at the forefront of change and evolution in the Indian real estate market for forty years. He was the Founding Director and CEO of Alpha G Corp (2004-2014) and Head of Operations – Mahindra/GESCO (1993-2004) prior to that. His realty skills were honed with major developers such as DLF and Ansals in the early years in his career.

As a fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (FRICS) UK, Sayal has led the implementation of new benchmarks in residential and commercial development. He has been instrumental in defining and establishing the widely used Real Estate Asset Management (REAM) model in the Indian Real Estate Industry.

He has been honoured with the 'Emerging India Business Baron Award' at the Indo-Malaysia Economic Cooperation Seminar, ‘Most Enterprising CEO of the Year’ at the Real Estate Awards, ‘CEO of the Year’ at the World Brand Congress Global Awards for Brand Excellence and more.

It has been Sayal’s ardent desire to introduce professionalism in the real estate sector. For this Sayal has authored the book ‘Inside Unreal Estate: A journey through India’s most controversial sector’. The book shares his experiences in the unlevel playing field of the Indian real estate for over three decades.

Devendra Khanna (Deven) is the Joint Managing Director at Bharti Enterprises viz. at Bharti Group.

Deven has nearly 37 years of experience in finance and general management. Deven has been with the Group since 2004 and has held various leadership positions including Corporate Director - Finance and Group Director - Chairman's Office before moving into his current role as Joint Managing Director. He has spearheaded financial reporting, business planning, revenue assurance, taxation, risk management and a host of strategic projects including structuring initiatives. In addition to leading strategic initiatives, he continues to lead SME functions like Corporate Finance, Taxation, Legal, HR and Internal Assurance; and also looks after the Family Office.

Deven serves as a Director on the boards of Bharti Enterprises (Holdings) Private Limited, Bharti Telecom Limited, Bharti Hexacom Limited and Bharti Telemedia Limited. He has also served on the boards of Centum Learning Limited, Bharti AXA Life Insurance Company Limited and Bharti AXA General Insurance Company Limited.

Earlier, Deven worked with Triveni Engineering & Industries Limited as the Chief Financial Officer for a business portfolio including sugar, steam turbines, sugar machinery, water treatment, micro hydel and oil drilling.

Deven is a commerce graduate from Sri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC), Delhi University and is a Fellow Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI).

Harjeet is a part of Bharti Management Board and drives the strategic aspects of businesses, across Bharti Airtel & other group businesses, by focusing on Strategy, business development, inorganic build-outs, M&A, capital allocation, partnerships, strategic capital sources, corporate finance, capital structure, equity, investor management (private & public), investments, risk management. He also plays the role of Business Sponsor driving core delivery & value creation for Airtel payments bank, Airtel money Africa, consumer & real estate businesses of the group.

Starting as a corporate & investment banker & finance professional leading into business roles, Harjeet has ~27 years of work experience. As the Jt Managing Director of Bharti Enterprises, Harjeet also serves as a Director on the Boards of Bharti Enterprises Limited, Indus Towers, Nxtra Data Centers, Airtel Payments Bank India, Airtel Money Africa, Bharti AXA Life Insurance Company Limited, Bharti Realty Limited, Del Monte Foods India, Bharti Land amongst others.

Prior to this role, Harjeet has served as Group Director for Airtel and Bharti group; Director - Finance Bharti group, CFO - Bharti Enterprises, Group Treasurer and Head of Investor Relation of Bharti Airtel and has worked on several strategic projects for Bharti group, across strategic expansion, large scale acquisitions, divestitures, IPO, QIP, Rights, buybacks, secondary sales, capital markets debt, equity market – across listed companies (Airtel/Infratel/Airtel Africa Plc) & including business/franchise deals in Insurance, foods, real estate et al.

Prior to joining Bharti group in late 2008, he had 12 years of corporate & investment banking experience at Citibank, across business build-outs, product head, structuring, sales, relationship management, capital markets & full P&L based market management. Working across diverse industries and businesses he has been a trusted advisor for corporate clients across their strategic intervention needs, organic and or inorganic and across value curation, creation, enhancement and or illumination.

Apart from a leadership program from Harvard in 2014, Harjeet is an MBA in Finance from University of Delhi, Faculty of Management Studies and a Mechanical Engineer from Delhi College of Engineering, University of Delhi.

Individually, early stage investing is also an equal passion for Harjeet. He is also part of India Angel Network and other early stage platforms, mostly as investor and selectively as mentor as well. And along with his wife Shilpa, serves with SVP India, a philanthropy organisation, as the Chapter Chairperson for SVP’s Delhi NCR Chapter.

J.S. Deepak is the Group Director, International Strategy and Public Policy at Bharti Enterprises.

A retired Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, Deepak has many decades of experience working for Government of India, especially in economic Ministries.

Deepak served as a Secretary and Joint Secretary, Telecom, Government of India, wherein he was responsible for the formulation of telecom policy and reforms in the sector. He spearheaded various initiatives for improving telecom regulation and pioneered auction, harmonization, sharing and trading of spectrum in the country.

As Secretary, Department of Electronics & Information Technology (DeitY), Deepak led India's efforts in Internet Governance and anchored the Digital India Programme and facilitation of IT/ITeS sector. He was also involved in Aadhar enrolment and expanding its use for improvement of governance.

He led trade negotiations in agriculture, manufactured products, services, rules, tariffs and subsidies and articulated the Indian position on e-commerce and investment as Ambassador of India to the World Trade Organization (WTO) at Geneva.

As Joint and Additional Secretary Commerce, Government of India (GOI), he dealt with trade policy, export promotion of electronics, pharmaceuticals, tea, coffee, spices, agriculture products and services. He was also India’s Chief Negotiator at the WTO, for the RCEP agreement and the India-EU Free Trade Agreement.

Deepak served as Director General Trade Remedies (DGTR) Chairman & Managing Director of State Trading Corporation (STC) of India and India Trade Promotion Organization {ITPO). He was also the Chairman of National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI), CSC e-Governance Services India Limited, National Institute for Smart Government (NISG). He was a member with the Central Governing Council of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) and Governing Body of the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT).

Deepak is an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad and has been invited to lecture on subjects related to management, trade, telecom and communication at various leading institutions and international fora.

Mamta Saikia is the Chief Executive Officer of Bharti Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Bharti Enterprises.

She has over 28 years of experience in the development sector. In her current role as the CEO, Mamta is responsible for providing strategic direction and operational leadership to Foundations development programs.

Prior to joining Bharti Foundation, Mamta worked with CRY – Child Rights & You, where she held various positions including Member of the Management Committee, Head – Resource Mobilization and Head – Global Operations. She also served as the Chair of SAFRG and been on the Board of Resource Alliance, a UK based organization.

Mamta has been honored by AACSB International (The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, USA) as one of its “2019 Class of Influential Leaders’. Among the several notable accolades, she was among the 100 Women Achievers of India (2015-16) under an initiative by the Ministry of Women & Child Development and was felicitated by the Hon’ble President of India. She has also been awarded the ‘Karmaveer Puraskaar: National Citizen Awards for Social Justice & Action’. Mamta has been nominated as an eminent person to the Board of Governors of Sainik School Society by the Ministry of Defence.