Born jun 15, 1950, in Rajastan, India, and making his home in Kensington, London, Lakshmi Mittal is the richest person in Britain, and the 4th richest man in the world, with an estimated fortune of US$45 billion.

Born of humble roots, his childhood years were spent in a house with bare floors and rope beds owned by his grandfather.  The family eventually moved to Calcutta where his father Mohan became a partner in a steel firm and made a fortune there.

Lakshmi graduated from St. Xavier’s College in Calcutta and started working in the family’s steelmaking business.  In 1976, the family started  its international division, and in 1994, Lakshmi Mittal split from the family business and took over the international business of the Mittal Group. 

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.

In January 2006, Mittal Steel launched a takeover bid for Arcelor Steel, and finally succeeded after 6 months of intense negotiation and resistance.  The resulting merger created a vast company called Arcelor Mittal, controlling 10% of the global steel market, with annual production more than three times the output of its nearest rival, Japan’s Nippon Steel.

Mittal is at present President of the Board of Directors and CEO of Arcelor Mittal which is the world’s largest producer of low and mid-grade steels, with assets in Romania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, South Africa, Poland, Czech Republic, Indonesia and Kazakhstan.