Monday, May 25, showed why it's a mistake to underestimate the 51-year-old chairman and group CEO of Bharti Enterprises.

Far from being daunted by last year's high-profile failure, Bharti announced it had resumed talks for a merger with MTN, this time involving a prodigiously complex cash and share-swap deal that has put analysts and regulators on their mettle.

If the deal is successful, Bharti will acquire 49 per cent in MTN and the South African company and its shareholders will acquire 36 per cent in Bharti, India's largest mobile service provider.

Bharti is currently the world's seventh largest mobile service provider. Adding MTN will give his conglomerate 200 million subscribers, making it the largest mobile operator in the world after China Mobile and Vodafone.

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