Politics can bring the greatest change in India: Mittal
By
siliconindia news bureau
Bangalore: While the world cribs on the darker side of political realm, the leader of Bharti Airtel, Sunil Mittal emphasized that only through politics the biggest positive change in India can be brought. Though a son of a politician, Mittal never meandered into the sphere, however he maintains that people through politics can shape the country for good. "Through politics the biggest change in India is possible, but our leaders are yet to show the change," he said.

The Govrnment should steer their focus towards social change, instead of meddling with business issues. The agriculture sector needs to be organized and private companies can help in it, if the government allows FDI partnership," he said. The telecom czar expressed his opinions in an interview with NDTV, while speaking on the various affairs in the telecom industry, ranging from Bharti's recent futile merger attempt with MTN to the delay in the 3G spectrum auction. "The MTN deal has wasted everybody's time. It has failed seven times consecutively and we will not move for any more talks on the same in the near future," Mittal said. He observes that MTN has to sort out their internal issues for any successful deal.
The telecom czar witness the delay in 3G auction to be a bigger setback for everyone and maintains the delay to be a work of the rivals. "The entire 3G spectrum has been politicized. There is a large amount of spectrum available in India, which is lying unused in the hands of public sector and defense. Though a huge need for broadband and wireless is seen in India, the private sector cannot move forward as the amount of spectrum opened up is too less to meet the demand," the Airtel's chief said.
As the leader of the telecom industry, Mittal has always preferred technological advancement in the sector to be fast paced. For instance, for many years there were people who said GSM is a lost case, but people like Mittal braved such mindsets establishing the importance of the GSM technology in the country. There are too many levies in indian telecom sector and so the sector demands a unified license structure and a comprehensive plan. "We need to fix our telecom policies. One day I wish, when I wake up all these regulatory curbs would vanish," said Mittal.
He acknowledges that the right spirit of entrepreneurship can help the industry to grow at a fast pace. "Entrepreneurs should be like deers, alert and active," he said. According to him, the auditors too can play their part in the growth through better and transparent audits.

The Govrnment should steer their focus towards social change, instead of meddling with business issues. The agriculture sector needs to be organized and private companies can help in it, if the government allows FDI partnership," he said. The telecom czar expressed his opinions in an interview with NDTV, while speaking on the various affairs in the telecom industry, ranging from Bharti's recent futile merger attempt with MTN to the delay in the 3G spectrum auction. "The MTN deal has wasted everybody's time. It has failed seven times consecutively and we will not move for any more talks on the same in the near future," Mittal said. He observes that MTN has to sort out their internal issues for any successful deal.
The telecom czar witness the delay in 3G auction to be a bigger setback for everyone and maintains the delay to be a work of the rivals. "The entire 3G spectrum has been politicized. There is a large amount of spectrum available in India, which is lying unused in the hands of public sector and defense. Though a huge need for broadband and wireless is seen in India, the private sector cannot move forward as the amount of spectrum opened up is too less to meet the demand," the Airtel's chief said.
As the leader of the telecom industry, Mittal has always preferred technological advancement in the sector to be fast paced. For instance, for many years there were people who said GSM is a lost case, but people like Mittal braved such mindsets establishing the importance of the GSM technology in the country. There are too many levies in indian telecom sector and so the sector demands a unified license structure and a comprehensive plan. "We need to fix our telecom policies. One day I wish, when I wake up all these regulatory curbs would vanish," said Mittal.
He acknowledges that the right spirit of entrepreneurship can help the industry to grow at a fast pace. "Entrepreneurs should be like deers, alert and active," he said. According to him, the auditors too can play their part in the growth through better and transparent audits.
Reader's comments(19)
1: Dear Sunil,
Can you or some other succeful enterpreneur in India make a business out of cleaning up India's garbage...There is company in America named Waste Management which is $12 billion dollars revenue. The following is profile of this company from yahoo finance.
--------------------------------------------- -----------
Waste Management, Inc. provides integrated waste management services in North America. The company offers collection, transfer, recycling, disposal, and waste-to-energy services. Its recycling operations include collection and materials processing, plastics and rubber materials recycling, electronics recycling services, and commodities recycling. The company also provides additional waste management services, such as in-plant services, methane gas recovery, and third-party sub-contracted and administrative services. In addition, it rents and services portable restroom facilities to municipalities and commercial customers, as well as provides street and parking lot sweeping services. Further, the company offers portable self-storage, fluorescent lamp recycling services, and healthcare solutions services, as well as provides services on behalf of third parties for construct waste facilities. It serves commercial, industrial, municipal, and residential customers, as well as other waste management companies, electric utilities, and governmental entities. The company was formerly known as USA Waste Services, Inc. and changed its name to Waste Management, Inc. in 1998. The company was incorporated in 1987 and is based in Houston, Texas.
Can you or some other succeful enterpreneur in India make a business out of cleaning up India's garbage...There is company in America named Waste Management which is $12 billion dollars revenue. The following is profile of this company from yahoo finance.
--------------------------------------------- -----------
Waste Management, Inc. provides integrated waste management services in North America. The company offers collection, transfer, recycling, disposal, and waste-to-energy services. Its recycling operations include collection and materials processing, plastics and rubber materials recycling, electronics recycling services, and commodities recycling. The company also provides additional waste management services, such as in-plant services, methane gas recovery, and third-party sub-contracted and administrative services. In addition, it rents and services portable restroom facilities to municipalities and commercial customers, as well as provides street and parking lot sweeping services. Further, the company offers portable self-storage, fluorescent lamp recycling services, and healthcare solutions services, as well as provides services on behalf of third parties for construct waste facilities. It serves commercial, industrial, municipal, and residential customers, as well as other waste management companies, electric utilities, and governmental entities. The company was formerly known as USA Waste Services, Inc. and changed its name to Waste Management, Inc. in 1998. The company was incorporated in 1987 and is based in Houston, Texas.
Posted by: dasg - 22 Oct, 2009

2:Dear Dasg,
I agree with you that cleaning up and managing Garbage and Waste in India could be one of the best business ventures. But at the same time, it will be a great social venture too. Besides providing employment to scores of people, it will help clean up India's cities and make them beautiful. It will also help make India's people healthy so many of them live near the un-managed garbage dumps...If not local municipal corporations, then health and tourism ministries should invest in those ventures.
I think currently the city garbage is collected and dumped on the out-skirts where poor people live nearby. During my last trip to India, when I was traveling from Faridabad to Noida on a raod near the Yamuna Canal, I was saddened to see garbage littered all along the road and people living in dirty and unhealthy surroundings. If this is the state of things in areas near India's capital, probably elsewhere it could be worse.
I don't think landfills are very common in India where the garbage is collected in a certain plance and managed properly. The landfills control the spread of garnage all-over the areas and are over-time converted into nice green areas and parks. The garbage in landfills can be used to make manure and fertilizers. Even a power-plant can be built to create power from waste..
Best,
I agree with you that cleaning up and managing Garbage and Waste in India could be one of the best business ventures. But at the same time, it will be a great social venture too. Besides providing employment to scores of people, it will help clean up India's cities and make them beautiful. It will also help make India's people healthy so many of them live near the un-managed garbage dumps...If not local municipal corporations, then health and tourism ministries should invest in those ventures.
I think currently the city garbage is collected and dumped on the out-skirts where poor people live nearby. During my last trip to India, when I was traveling from Faridabad to Noida on a raod near the Yamuna Canal, I was saddened to see garbage littered all along the road and people living in dirty and unhealthy surroundings. If this is the state of things in areas near India's capital, probably elsewhere it could be worse.
I don't think landfills are very common in India where the garbage is collected in a certain plance and managed properly. The landfills control the spread of garnage all-over the areas and are over-time converted into nice green areas and parks. The garbage in landfills can be used to make manure and fertilizers. Even a power-plant can be built to create power from waste..
Best,
sami replied to: dasg
post - 24 Oct, 2009
post - 24 Oct, 2009
3: Dear Mittal Sir,
Thanks for the good article...I also apreciate your work and your concerns for India's development. Please continue to contribute for India's development. I wish you success and good health.
On a side note, I wonder why most of India's tourist places (ever visted Taj Mahal recently) are so pathetic in comparison to tourist places in the Western world. Although we have had some successes in managing our tourist places (like Vaishno Devi, and Akshardham in Delhi), we have not been able to understand and duplicate the model of management of beautiful and well-managed tourist places. We are losing on so much of our tourism revneue and most of foreign visitors probably leave India with a bad taste and bad image of India. And as they say, an angry customer dissuades many other customers, i.e. stopping many other people from visiting India.
I think Rajive Gandhi initiated the programs to make India beautiful and planting many trees, which sadly has not been re-started by Sonia Gandhi or Rahul Gandhi or anyone else in the congress government.
Wish you and your family and all the Indians a very Happy Diwali!
With best wishes.
Thanks for the good article...I also apreciate your work and your concerns for India's development. Please continue to contribute for India's development. I wish you success and good health.
On a side note, I wonder why most of India's tourist places (ever visted Taj Mahal recently) are so pathetic in comparison to tourist places in the Western world. Although we have had some successes in managing our tourist places (like Vaishno Devi, and Akshardham in Delhi), we have not been able to understand and duplicate the model of management of beautiful and well-managed tourist places. We are losing on so much of our tourism revneue and most of foreign visitors probably leave India with a bad taste and bad image of India. And as they say, an angry customer dissuades many other customers, i.e. stopping many other people from visiting India.
I think Rajive Gandhi initiated the programs to make India beautiful and planting many trees, which sadly has not been re-started by Sonia Gandhi or Rahul Gandhi or anyone else in the congress government.
Wish you and your family and all the Indians a very Happy Diwali!
With best wishes.
Posted by: ADI - 16 Oct, 2009
4: First of all I admire Mittal for all his work
despite so poor infrastrcuture and despite so
much corruption in India...But little by
little things are getting better becuase of
efforts of may people both in non-politics as
well as in politics...
Mittal sir, I wish you all the success. I also wish, if you could contribute to make India green and beautiful. I think by making India green, it will help in many ways:
- Make people healthy (I think health ministry should also
invest in making India green)
- Attract more tourists, so makes business sense.
- Increase the productivity of people in India as greenry
is good for human senses.
Mittal sir, I wish you all the success. I also wish, if you could contribute to make India green and beautiful. I think by making India green, it will help in many ways:
- Make people healthy (I think health ministry should also
invest in making India green)
- Attract more tourists, so makes business sense.
- Increase the productivity of people in India as greenry
is good for human senses.
Posted by: Sanjay - 16 Oct, 2009
5: New Generation Politics are here
www.loksatta.org
http://www.loksatta.org/cms/index.php?option= com_content&view=article&id=87&It emid=60
http://www.loksatta.org/cms/index.php?option= com_content&view=article&id=87&It emid=60
Posted by: Proud Member of Loksatta - 16 Oct, 2009
6: US companies are known for their excess
greed, dumb workmanship and dirty practices.
No other country has such poor record of
skills other than USA and it is reflected in
their companies. Please, make sure there is a
check on these practices. What is sad is if
they take bribe and then don't do anything is
better than taking bribes and taking bribes
and letting Amaerican companies do it.
Reason: American Technology always is highly
unreliable.
Posted by: American Way - 15 Oct, 2009
7: Dear Mittal,
Your steel must not be selling good - Rape agriculture now with the whites Help.Sing British National Anthem.Promote East India Company again.
Pradeep
Your steel must not be selling good - Rape agriculture now with the whites Help.Sing British National Anthem.Promote East India Company again.
Pradeep
Posted by: Bantwal Srnivas Pradeep Nayak - 15 Oct, 2009

8:Pradeep,
You are talking about wrong Mittal....
You are talking about wrong Mittal....
Dev replied to: Bantwal Srnivas Pradeep Nayak
post - 16 Oct, 2009
post - 16 Oct, 2009
9: Mr. Mittal, your association with the
Rothschild family in agribusiness sector (in
India) is a matter of grave concern! If you
remember, we got independence just 60 years
back. You are bent upon to nullify it.
For those of you, who do not know who the richest man in the world is, know this, its Sir Evelyn Robert de Rothschild. Knighted by UK Queen Elizabeth, Sir Evelyn owns half of the world's wealth, amounting to couple of hundred trillion dollars. So the Rothschild's are trying to get into India again by controlling the food or in other words - Roti, Kapra and Makan. That is why in this article there is one line "The agriculture sector needs to be organized and private companies can help in it, if the government allows FDI partnership," he said". Shame on you Mr. Mittal. Look at China & learn something. With the economic crisis, they are going and buying stakes in the Rothschild's bank in UK to gain control and you as an Indian is trying to cheat on India. What a pitiable difference.
For those of you, who do not know who the richest man in the world is, know this, its Sir Evelyn Robert de Rothschild. Knighted by UK Queen Elizabeth, Sir Evelyn owns half of the world's wealth, amounting to couple of hundred trillion dollars. So the Rothschild's are trying to get into India again by controlling the food or in other words - Roti, Kapra and Makan. That is why in this article there is one line "The agriculture sector needs to be organized and private companies can help in it, if the government allows FDI partnership," he said". Shame on you Mr. Mittal. Look at China & learn something. With the economic crisis, they are going and buying stakes in the Rothschild's bank in UK to gain control and you as an Indian is trying to cheat on India. What a pitiable difference.
Posted by: som mittal - 15 Oct, 2009
10: Yes, I agree with you. The price of the basic
neccessities have risen several times due to
sharp politics. Now such basic materials/
food stuffs are much beyound the reach of
common man.
Posted by: Pradeep Engineer - 15 Oct, 2009
11: It is true, today I saw a seen which exactly
tells the situation in India. There was a
narrow oneway road in Bangalore. In the front
there was a vegitable handcart which was
moving slowly[the politics]. Next to that was
a tractor fully occupied the road[
agriculture] and then followed by bikes and
scooters[ greedy officers and some corrupt
citizens who look for opportunity with no
value to law], and then a Maruti Swift car
[rich class and industry] . So until we
replace the first vehicle i.e. vegitable cart
with a good one we will be going very slow...
never reaching the destination.
Posted by: Aravidna - 15 Oct, 2009

12:Good imagination.. U'r point is rite..
rajini replied to: Aravidna
post - 15 Oct, 2009
post - 15 Oct, 2009
13: politic in india is very bad . You can imagin
from these statement from gov. of india
increase the price of gass . beacuse RIL
getting gas field and they getting more
profit . why at this time incrsased gas price
, it will be increse after and before RIL
grtting gas field
. so i hate indian politice and politician . why they understand that the people of india not understand your atitude , they undersatnd . i think before independence politics was infavour of people and afte independence infavour of itself .
. so i hate indian politice and politician . why they understand that the people of india not understand your atitude , they undersatnd . i think before independence politics was infavour of people and afte independence infavour of itself .
Posted by: lalan kumar - 15 Oct, 2009
14: Our politics aim at equality across the
citizens and that is why Vividh Bharti and
Doordarshan are still accessbile to the
masses.
Mittal Sir, I disagree with you. The constructive politics with the strong opposition is already in place and there is no need of any revamp in that. The revamp is required in curbing the corruption rooted in the system and even your company has been involved in bribing to get rid off the case where a wrong citizen was reported for using the IP Address and beated badly in police station.
What is your say?
Mittal Sir, I disagree with you. The constructive politics with the strong opposition is already in place and there is no need of any revamp in that. The revamp is required in curbing the corruption rooted in the system and even your company has been involved in bribing to get rid off the case where a wrong citizen was reported for using the IP Address and beated badly in police station.
What is your say?
Posted by: Rajneesh - 14 Oct, 2009
15: First Change has to be brought by his own
company. Let him make the beginning, his
company does not provide nodal officers
number on home page, the customer support
email is missing from contact us page.
Let him make the beginning by being very transparent company and honest to its customers.
Let him make the beginning by being very transparent company and honest to its customers.
Posted by: Sudhir Singh - 14 Oct, 2009

16:i hope this is not the right time to bring up
these kind of issues...I feel Airtel is the
No.1 Network in India.
Yash replied to: Sudhir Singh
post - 15 Oct, 2009
post - 15 Oct, 2009

17:In India every body wants to advise every
other person. Mittal is no exception. The
type of politicians we have, they are of no
use to the coutry. I hope Mittle will take
your advise seriously and begin at home!
ashok kothare replied to: Sudhir Singh
post - 15 Oct, 2009
post - 15 Oct, 2009
18: Why not, when there are reports saying that
Indian Ministry officials are taking bribes
From U.S. This is the condition of politics
in India.
Posted by: Ravi - 14 Oct, 2009

19:Join
"India Redefined - A Movement"
For details see
http://www.indiaredefined-a4c.org
A movement to light up the fire in the hearts of every Indian citizen to be awakened -"to Exercise their Rights & Fulfill their Obligations & Responsibilities". And this fire can be such which will "Purify the Good & Destroy the Bad" - a "Jwala" which can resurrect our India into "Sone ki Chidiya" once again.
This movement is for those Indians want to change the country into something which they will be proud to hand over to their children tomorrow.
It is a movement of the intelligent masses who have so far silently watched the country go to the dogs, and now have realized that running of the country has been hijacked by people who only have a vested interest.
We are an evolving movement and we plan to evolve as we come across challenges - each one of you is a leader of the country and start acting as one. Do Not Leave Your Well Being Into The Hands Of Others.
DONATE YOUR TIME.
"India Redefined - A Movement"
For details see
http://www.indiaredefined-a4c.org
A movement to light up the fire in the hearts of every Indian citizen to be awakened -"to Exercise their Rights & Fulfill their Obligations & Responsibilities". And this fire can be such which will "Purify the Good & Destroy the Bad" - a "Jwala" which can resurrect our India into "Sone ki Chidiya" once again.
This movement is for those Indians want to change the country into something which they will be proud to hand over to their children tomorrow.
It is a movement of the intelligent masses who have so far silently watched the country go to the dogs, and now have realized that running of the country has been hijacked by people who only have a vested interest.
We are an evolving movement and we plan to evolve as we come across challenges - each one of you is a leader of the country and start acting as one. Do Not Leave Your Well Being Into The Hands Of Others.
DONATE YOUR TIME.
tanuja khan replied to: Ravi
post - 14 Oct, 2009
post - 14 Oct, 2009
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