India’s Lakshmi Mittal : World’s New Steel King
When America’s King of Steel, immigrant Scot Andrew Carnegie, sold Carnegie Steel to J.P. Morgan more than 100 years ago, for $480 million, the renowned financier told him, “Congratulations, Mr. Carnegie, you are the richest man in the world.”
Carnegie who had grown up in poverty in Scotland to become one of America’s most ruthless and successful businessmen, became a philanthropist and funded about 3,000 libraries around the world, including several in Ireland.
Today, says Finfacts Ireland, the world has a new King of Steel with a global presence. Lakshmi Mittal was born poor in a small Rajasthani town in north-western India. He spent his first years in Sadulpur, living with his extended family on bare concrete floors and rope beds in a house built by his grandfather.
Lakshmi Mittal, the world’s third richest man, on Sunday sealed his position as the global steel industry’s key player by winning rival steelmaker Arcelor, ending a bitter five-month takeover battle that was sometimes infused with racist overtones. On Sunday, Arcelor agreed to a revised offer from Mittal Steel worth 25.6 billion euros ($32.2 billion).
The Indian-born steel tycoon, Lakshmi Mittal, is now the third richest person in the world, trailing only the Microsoft chief, Bill Gates, and the U.S. investment guru, Warren Buffett. Forbes.com says Mittal is now worth $23.5 billion.
“Mittal Steel and Arcelor were already the world number one and two. As Arcelor-Mittal, Lakshmi Mittal will run a steel company three times the size of its nearest rival,” says Reuters.
“Mittal, 56, who made his multibillion dollar fortune by leading consolidation of the steel industry, has said acquiring rival steelmaker Arcelor would mark a step change in the process, creating a behemoth with 10 percent of world volume.
“Lakshmi Nivas Mittal, named after the Hindu deity of prosperity and wealth, started work in his father’s mill in Calcutta at a time when many had written the steel industry off.
“He went on to make his fortune by transforming ailing steel mills around the globe into money spinners by cutting costs, exploiting economies of scale, and selling higher-value products into a growing market.”
Mittal’s taste for ostentation is wellknown and generally looked down upon by Europe’s top industrial houses. In 2004, he bought a 12-bedroom mansion in Kensington for 70 million pounds. He spent an estimated 80 million euros on his daughter Vanisha’a wedding.
The venues for the wedding? The awesome Palace of Versailles, where the French ‘Sun King’ Louis XIV held court in the 17th century and the 17th-century Vaux le Vicomte, acknowledged as ‘the finest chateau and garden’ in France.
Mittal steels has assets in Romania, South Africa, the United States, Poland, France, Indonesia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan.
17 Responses to “India’s Lakshmi Mittal : World’s New Steel King”
Andrew Carnegie was an arsehole. He is responsible for working people to their deaths in his sick desire to be knighted by the Briton’s Monarch, (which he never achieved). He made his original “investment seed” as a carpet bagger. Children working in his factories had a life expectancy of 18 years old. This man is not a “hero”, he was a megalomaniac and a murderer. He should NOT be admired or emulated EVER! It is easy to get rich if you are allowed to treat people like slaves.
I thought I read that Mittal Steel had its HQ in the Netherlands?
he needs to send me $100,000 US or something
lol
Salmineo…Thanks for the info on Carnegie. I didn’t know anything about him until today when I saw the website Finfacts Ireland. I have mentioned about this website in my post.
So I had no clue whether he was a hero or a villain. Carnegie lived more than 100 years ago. And the website had mentioned his name in the context of the steel story.
I did not know that a person who lived a century ago could evoke such a strong emotion in people that they would start swearing after hearing his name!!!
I learnt in my childhood a quotation from Mahatma Gandhi: “Hate the sin and not the sinner is a precept which though easy enough to understand is rarely practiced, and that is why the poison of hatred spreads in the world.”
Here are Gandhi’s three more quotations: “A coward is incapable of exhibiting love; it is the prerogative of the strong. Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.”
“Man and his deed are two distinct things. Whereas a good deed should call forth approbation, and a wicked deed disapprobation, the doer of the deed, whether good or wicked always deserves respect or pity as the case may be.”
“It is good to see ourselves as others see us. Try as we may, we are never able to know ourselves fully as we are, especially the evil side of us. This we can do only if we are not angry with our critics but will take in good heart whatever they might have to say.”
Actually, Andrew Carnegie is well-remembered in the Midwest for his libraries. Can anyone name some early industrialists who were not robber barons?
Swaraaj,
I read this article on CorpWatch and it seemed to portay Tata Steel in the mold of the American Robber Barons. How serious are the tensions between industrialization and the tribal land holders in India?
his daughter is FIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINE. she could get IT!!!
OutOfContext…Well my post was about Mittal Steel and not Tata Steel. However, to answer your question the House of Tatas is still considered the most humane/clean business house in India. No way you can compare them with the “American Robber Barons”. However, with regard to the tribals…it is a different problem
Most of the minerals, etc, and the forests lie in the tribal belt. So either no industry and leave the tribals to their fate, and conserve their unique social/cultural life, or slowly get them into the national mainstream by setting up industry there. But there are strong different views on that.
If you read the CorpWatch story carefully, it was the government which invited the Tata Steel. The government officials, over the years, have not endeared themselves to the tribals. Some are even blamed for encouraging forest mafia or sexual/other exploitation.
So even if a clean company goes to the tribal areas, there would be resistance. The well-meaning NGOs, instead of ensuring that the tribals get a fair deal, take on a confrontationist role. Thus there are few channels of communication between the tribals and the industry/government.
If the tribals are not incited to take on the aggressive/violent stance, there is a possibility of reaching some sort of amicable settlement. The Tatas are known in India for giving best benefit to their staff…and for engaging in socially beneficial activities.
Swaraaj
Study history and make your own decisions. The only Mahatma quotes I care about involves steaming rice. My religion tells me to forgive Andrew Carnegie, but I would rather go back in time and kill him at birth before he did his evil deeds….then ask forgivness.
I’d be glad to sacrifice the libraries Holly mentioned any day, because “provide for the general welfare”, written in the constitution means that the state builds the libraries after taxing the hell out of the Carnegie types.
There are several Indian people that I have worked with over the years. I have admired many. However the ones I did “business” with were not my cup of tea, so-to-speak.
In Africa there is a song:
If you work for a waahindi, your troubles have just began….
…and so it goes.
Swaraaj,
Thanks for the angle on the Corpwatch story. I was aware that it was a separate company about which I inquired–I just happened to be reading a different story on the Corpwatch site and this one interested me. Though you say the gov’t invited the company in, if it is anything like the current relationship gov’t and business has in our country, the distinction may only be pro forma. I do appreciate you taking the time to give me a framework in case I want to learn more about the situation.
I need to jump here and add this. I lived in India for nearly two years, first for about 6 months as an intern on the Hindustan Times in New Delhi, and later, after I finished my graduate work at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern, as a New Delhi based freelance (my actual credential there is the now defunct Chicago Daily News, but I don’t think there is any relationship to my writing for them and them going out of business). I LOVED India. I loved the people there, found its politics fascinating, was enormously impressed with the quality of some of the writing and journalism there…and of course fell in love for life with its cuisine. I met Swaaraj when I was a student (my parents thought he was one of the most impressive young people they had ever met, when they met him while visiting me) there. He found me on the Internet and after we were in touch for a while it dawned on me to invite him to coblog since I had been doing lots of foreign news oriented posts plus I liked the idea of someone who has a different prespective. As for Mahatma Gandhi, I carried a bio of him with a lot of his writings for years. A whole debate can be started about his relevance…but we are influenced in the U.S. by him since he was a huge influence on the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Also: if you haven’t read anything written by Gandhi, just to see what he’s like you could do worse then to get a book out of the library. He wrote in very clear, compelling terms. He was a lawyer and did have that lawyerly precision. Again, Gandhism and Gandhi are a whole different issue. But I have nothing but good things to say about India, its people, and the depth of some of the thinking that goes on in the India subcontinent (even thoughts I don’t always agree with)
OutOfContext…Thanks…You are welxcome anytime.
Salmineo…Wow man…You are an emotional and a passionate guy!!! I like such straight and honest people…Must be a great human being…just don’t pull the trigger too often!!!
Sorry Joe. I have not read any “Deep Thinking” here yet. Maybe if we had links to something other than a media article. Should I do this research or will it be that by the time I’m ready to post, the blog would have moved on so far it will not have mattered?
Its a Blog Joe. Deep thinking is not possible.
Swaraaj
I’m sorry, did I offend you?
Don’t be silly, Salmineo!!! I thoroughly enjoy your comments. Bash on regardless!!! More fiery the better. It makes things lively. And I mean it. Cheers
Ah Ha!….Good sport that.
An Indian myself, I am proud of what Mr LN Mittal has achieved. I hope the deal goes thru smoothly. I caught his interview on TV, on the Simi Garewal Show. He is sucha simple man. Hats off to him.
Tulip
Stainless steel utensil manufacturer