Lakshmi Narayan Mittal (also known as Lakshmi Niwas Mittal) is an Indian billionaire industrialist, born on 15 June (not certain) 1950 in Sadulpur, in Churu district of Rajasthan, India, and residing in Kensington Palace Gardens, London, UK. He is the 5th richest man in the world and, according to the Sunday Times Rich List, the richest in the UK, with a net worth of £14.8 billion (April 2006).

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. His family, from the Marwari Agrawal caste, was from humble roots; his grandfather worked for the Tarachand Ghanshyam Das firm, one of the leading Marwari industrial firms of pre-independence India. They eventually moved to Kolkata where his father, Mohan, became a partner in a steel company and made a fortune. Lakshmi graduated from St. Xavier's College in Kolkata with a business degree in 1969. His classmates knew him as a sharp student who was good with numbers.

In 1994, due to differences with his father and brothers, he branched out on his own, taking over the international operations of the Mittal steel business.

Today he is chairman and CEO of the Mittal Steel Company NV, which is the world's largest producer of steel, with steel assets in Romania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, South Africa, Poland, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, the United States, Ukraine and other countries. He was the Fortune European Businessman of the Year for 2004.

In 2002 he was embroiled in a political scandal dubbed Mittalgate with British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Many suspected that a donation by Mittal to the British Labour Party had led to Blair's intervention (a letter to the Romanian Prime Minister) in a business deal favouring Mittal. On July 13, 2005 it was announced that he had donated £2 million to the Labour Party.

Personal Wealth

In March 2006, he was reported to be the fifth wealthiest person in the world by Forbes Magazine (Up from 63rd richest in 2004). The Mittal family owns 88% of Mittal Steel, the world's largest steel company.[1]

His residence in Kensington, bought in 2003 for £70 million ($128 million) from Formula One car racing boss Bernie Ecclestone, is the highest price ever paid for a house.[2] Formerly, this house was the residence of Paul Reuter, the founder of the Reuters news service. [3]

Mittal has two children. He paid over $60 million to host his daughter Vanisha's wedding celebration in Vaux le Vicomte on June 22, 2004 and an engagement ceremony at the Palace of Versailles on June 20, 2004, the most expensive wedding in world history. His son Aditya is a director of Mittal Steel.