TELECOM TITAN

WITH SHARP BETS ON 5G AND CAPITAL DISCIPLINE, SUNIL MITTAL RANG IN PROFITS, AND THE BIGGEST WEALTH GAIN AMONG INDIA'S TOP 100 BILLIONAIRES.

- BY ANUP JAYARAM

SUNIL BHARTI MITTAL, the second son of former politician Sat Paul Mittal, has within one generation created a thriving business conglomerate, among India's biggest.

Sunil Mittal and his family—which includes brothers Rakesh and Rajan—has been ranked the fourth-richest with a wealth of ₹3,15,310 crore ($36.77 billion) as on June 30, 2025, according to the 2025 Fortune India-Waterfield Advisors study of India's Top 100 Billionaires.

In a year where many of the rich have seen their net worth erode due to a variety of reasons, Sunil Mittal stands tall with the largest increase in wealth at ₹84,134 crore ($9.23 billion). On May 27 last year, Bharti Airtel became India's first, first-generation enterprise to hit a market capitalisation of $100 billion. As of July 31, 2025, it was valued at $124 billion, the fourth-highest after RIL, HDFC Bank and Tata Consultancy Services. It is also the world’s sixth most-valued telecommunications firm after T-Mobile US, China Mobile, AT&T, Verizon and Deutsche Telecom, according to financial data website CompaniesMarketCap.com.

The right call

Many things have gone right for Mittal over the past year. Airtel has over 556 million mobile subscribers across 15 countries—390 million in India and 166 million across 14 African nations, as on May 2025, according to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) data. It is also present in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka through associate entities. After the last tariff hike in July 2024, Airtel reported the highest average revenue per user (ARPU) of ₹245 (Q3 and Q4, FY25) among domestic telcos, compared with ₹209 in Q4FY24. In sharp contrast, Reliance Jio’s ARPU was around ₹206, while Vodafone Idea had been languishing at ₹175 (Q4FY25).