Vice-Chairman, Bharti Enterprises

Rakesh Bharti Mittal is Vice-Chairman of Bharti Enterprises, one of India’s leading business groups with interests in telecom, agri-food business, financial services, realty, and communication & media devices.

Bharti Airtel, the flagship company of Bharti Enterprises, is a global telecommunications company with operations in 18 countries across South Asia and Africa. The company ranks amongst the top three mobile operators globally and its mobile network covers a population of over two billion people. Airtel is India’s largest integrated telecom provider and the second largest mobile operator in Africa. Indus Towers, where Bharti Airtel has a stake, is a leading provider of passive telecom infrastructure in India. Bharti has joint ventures with several global leaders: Singtel, AXA, Del Monte, SoftBank, and Brightstar.

Rakesh is the Chairman - Bharti AXA Life Insurance, Bharti AXA General Insurance and FieldFresh Foods. He is also a Non-Executive Director - Bharti Airtel and Managing Director - Bharti Realty Limited.

Rakesh served as the President of CII for the year 2018-19. He has been the Chair of several CII Councils and Committees at the National level.

Rakesh is the Co-Chair of the India-Uzbekistan Business Council. He is also a member of India-UK CEO Forum, IndiaJapan Business Leaders’ Forum, India Pakistan Joint Business Forum (IPJBF), and the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) and Member of Board of Governors of Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs (IICA). Rakesh is a member of the Governing Board of Centre for Policy Research (CPR) and Member of the Advisory Board of Pranab Mukherjee Foundation. Rakesh also serves as a Member of the Economic Advisory Council – Government of Haryana. In the past, he served as Member, Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), Society of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), the National Food Processing Development Council (NFPDC), MoFPI, Government of India and member of the India-Canada CEOs Forum. Rakesh also served as the Honorary Consul for Republic of Sierra Leone in India from 2014 to 2020.

A passionate advocate of right to good education, Rakesh serves on Boards of several educational institutions. He is a member of All India Board of Studies for Post-Graduate Education and Research in Engineering & Technology (AIBPGERT), Board of Indian School of Business (ISB), Chairman of Mohali Campus Advisory Board of ISB, Chairman of the Advisory Council of the Bharti Institute of Public Policy at ISB Mohali and Member of Board of Trustees of Reimagining Higher Education Foundation (RHEF). Rakesh is the Co-Chairman of the Advisory Board of Bharti School of Telecommunication Technology & Management at IIT Delhi. He also serves as member of the Managing Society and Governing Board of Dayanand Medical College & Hospital, Ludhiana. He is the President of Nehru Sidhant Kender Trust and also the Chairman of the Governing Council of Sat Paul Mittal School.

Rakesh believes that a responsible corporate has a duty to give back to the community in which it operates. This belief has resulted in Bharti Foundation, which operates nearly 183 Satya Bharti Schools as well as supports over 791 government schools under Quality Support Program to ensure holistic education. Over 4.5 lakh underprieged children in rural India have benefitted from the programmes of Bharti Foundation since its inception. With a focus on the girl child, the Satya Bharti Schools provide free education, mid-day meals, books and uniforms to all the children.

Supporting the Prime Minister’s mission of Swachh Bharat, Bharti Foundation launched Satya Bharti Abhiyan and has provided nearly 32,000 toilets in Ludhiana and rural Amritsar, impacting lives of over 2.17 lakh beneficiaries and enabled these areas to become open defecation free.

Rakesh has been awarded the Honorary Doctor of Civil Law Degree by Newcastle University, UK. He is a recipient of several awards including the prestigious ’Horasis – Indian Business Leader of the Year 2016 Award (Internationalization), ‘Institute of Engineers - Engineering Excellence Award 2004’, and ‘LMA - Entrepreneur of the year Award 1992’. In 2019, the Satish Chander Dhawan (S.C.D) College, Ludhiana bestowed Rakesh with the ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’ for his invaluable contributions in business, different areas of public interest, and nation as a whole.