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Laxmi Niwas Mittal – Thinking Big
Lakshmi Narayan Mittal (also known as Lakshmi Niwas Mittal) was born on June 15, 1950 at
Sadulpur, in Churu district of Rajasthan13, India. He spent his early years in Sadulpur, living
with his joint family on concrete floors and rope beds in a house built by his grandfather. His
family, from the Marwari14 Agrawal caste, was from humble roots; his grandfather worked for
the Tarachand Ghanshyam Das firm, one of the leading Marwari industrial firms of preindependence
India. They later moved to Kolkata15 where his father, Mohan, became a partner
in a steel company and made a fortune...
Mittal Steel – Genesis and Growth
It all started in 1976, when his father started a steel company in Indonesia. Mittal moved to
Indonesia to operate a failing rod and wire making company which his father had purchased.
After joining as Managing Director, he found that the plant was suffering from acute raw
material problem both, in terms of high prices and low availability. Mittal found DRI21 as a
better substitute for scrap. However, this required a regular supply of quality iron ore and
natural gas at affordable prices...
Mittal Business Strategy
Mittal’s major business strategy was to acquire loss-making sick steel plants world-wide. He
acquired those steel plants which his competitors did not touch because of the high risk
involved in it. The company’s first acquisition was the Iron and Steel Plant at Trinidad &
Tobago. This plant was set up in 1981. Due to recession in the late 80s, the company started
making heavy losses which mounted to $1million a week. Mittal sourced DRI from ISCOTT,
and took lease of the plant from the Government of Trinidad & Tobago...
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