Akhil Gupta: The fourth Mittal brother

Akhil Gupta’s penchant for big thinking has seen him pull off a series of path breaking deals for Bharti with global telecom giants such as British Telecom, Singapore Telecom and Vodafone. Officially, he is the deputy CEO of Bharti Enterprises, but Akhil Gupta has never been defined merely by his designated role.

For India’s top telecom executives, Gupta is Bharti group CMD Sunil Mittal’s confidante and the chief troubleshooter, ever since the launch of its mobile operations in the Delhi circle way back in 1995. And with Bharti Airtel talking a second shot at global domination via a merger with South Africa’s MTN, Gupta is the main advisor and helpmate for Mittal to steer this big ticket M&A to fruition.

A chartered accountant with a master’s degree from Harvard Business School, it’s Gupta’s dealmaking skills and ability to form partnerships with investors that has been pivotal to Bharti’s phenomenal growth in a span of just ten years. No wonder the straight-talking Bharti group chairman has often described Akhil as the fourth Mittal brother.