Rakesh Mittal

Rakesh Mittal is a startup investor at Airtel. Rakesh Bharti Mittal is the Vice-Chairman of Bharti Enterprises, one of India’s leading business groups with interests in telecom, agri business, financial services, retail, realty, and communication & media devices. Bharti Airtel, a group company, is among the leading global telecom service providers with operations in 20 countries across Asiaand Africa. Bharti Infratel, a subsidiary of Bharti Airtel, is a leading provider of passive telecom infrastructure in India. Bharti has joint ventures with several global leaders including AXA for financial services and Del Monte for agri and food processing business.Rakesh is the Chairman of Bharti AXA Life Insurance, Bharti AXA General Insurance, FieldFresh Foods and Centum Learning. He is also on the Boards of Bharti Telecom, Bharti Ventures and other group companies.Rakesh is a member of the National Council of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) since 1999 and is currently the Chairman of CII Development Initiative Council (DIC). Rakesh is also a member of India – Canada CEOs Forum and India Pakistan Joint Business Forum (IPJBF) to strengthen and promote economic relations. He is currently on the Governing Body of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), Punjab Investment Advisory Council (PIAC) and is also as a member of the National Food Processing Development Council (NFPDC), MoFPI, Government of India.Rakesh was the Chairman of CII National Council on Agriculture since 2009, and has also served as the Chairman of several National Committees of CII. He served as the Chairman of its Northern Regional Council during 2004-05. In the past Rakesh has served as a member of Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), Screening-cum-Implementation group on the recommendations of Technical Advisory TACSA, Committee for Encouraging Investments in Supply Chain, and Working Group on Agricultural Marketing Infrastructure, under the Planning Commission and also the Assam Investment Advisory Board (AIAB).A passionate advocate of right to good education, Rakesh serves on Boards of several educational institutions. He is a member of the Executive Board of Indian School of Business (ISB) and the Campus Advisory Board (CAB) of ISB, Mohali. He is a member of the Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India and also a member of the ‘Round Table on School Education’ for Ministry of Human Resources Development, Government of India. Rakesh is the Co-Chairman of the Advisory board of Bharti School of Telecommunication Technology & Management. He is the Chairman of the Advisory Council of the Bharti Institute of Public Policy and a member of the Punjab Education Development Board. Rakesh is on the Governing Boards of Dayanand Medical College & Hospital and the Institute of Integrated Learning in Management (IILM). He is a member of the Executive Council of YMCA University of Science and Technology and Chairman of Governing Council of Sat Paul Mittal School. In the past he has served on the Advisory Council of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) - Delhi, and a member of the Board of Governors of Thapar University, Punjab. Rakesh was also a member of the International Advisory Council of Southern Methodist University (SMU), Dallas, USA.Rakesh believes that a responsible corporate has a duty to give back to the community in which it operates. Rakesh is a Life Trustee and the Co- Chairman of Bharti Foundation, which was set up with the vision “To help the underprivileged children and young people of our country realize their potential”. Bharti Foundation's Satya Bharti School Program reaches out to underprivileged children in villages and provides them free quality education along with school uniform, books, stationery and nutritious mid-day meals. Currently, 187 Satya Bharti Primary Schools, 62 Satya Bharti Elementary Schools, and 5 Satya Bharti Senior Secondary school are operational, reaching out to over 39,000 students across the Indian states of Punjab, Rajasthan, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal.Bharti Foundation won the Qatar Foundation’s 2012 “World Innovation Summit for Education” (WISE) Award for its transformative impact and innovative approach to improve the quality and delivery of education to underprivileged children in rural India. Bharti Foundation was chosen as the “Corporate Citizen of the Year” at the Economic Times Awards 2010. Besides his role as the Co-Chairman of Bharti Foundation, he devotes time to several charitable institutions in India.Rakesh has been awarded the Honorary Doctor of Civil Law Degree by Newcastle University, UK.