In his telecom venture, for instance, Mittal has bought in SingTel, British Telecom, Telecom Italia, Warburg Pincus and Vodafone -- all of whom have invested in the company some time or the other.

SingTel is still there. And Vodafone also is still there despite the UK company buying into Hutchison-Essar (now Vodafone-Essar).

Outside of telecom, Mittal might have been unhappy at the way Changi Airport walked out of its partnership just a few days before bids for the Delhi airport privatisation project opened, but he said so publicly.

His ambition to become a key player in the BPO space also did not take off. The group had a joint venture with US-based BPO TeleTech but eventually sold the company.

Powered by