Mittal to step back in Bharti

Bharti Enterprises, which has a market capitalisation of $6 billion, indicated changes in the management structure of the company's telecommunications business.

"As an entrepreneur, I will step back two years from now. The company will have two presidents: for mobility and for infotel services. They will be empowered to run the business in a collaborative and participative manner with professionals," Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman of the Bharti group, said at a public forum today.

He pointed out that for the past 16 years the group had focused on "nothing more than telecommunications and in less than two years, work in this field will be over".

He was speaking on the first day of the two-day Oracle Open World conference in Mumbai. Mittal said on the sidelines of the conference: "I am spending my time creating the second generation of leadership and institutional mechanism. In two years, the company will be board-managed and I will move away from the operational part."

He pointed out, "The Bharti senior management will now focus on new businesses."

Bharti recently entered the farm produce business. "We want to bring fresh produce on to the tables of the West," Mittal said, adding that the farm business held more promise than the telecommunications business.

Bharti has entered into a partnership with UK-based firm for farm business. Mittal claimed that the company would buy "a piece of land within a month" for the new business.

Besides, the company also has plans to bid for the privatisation of airports in the country. Mittal said for new businesses such as the farm business and airport privatisation, the company had roped in consultants from Israel and the US, apart from a few Indian consultants. The company is also looking at globalising its telecom business. It has 22,000 customers in Seychelles.

"We will bid for more projects in Asia and Africa," he added. In his presentation, Mittal said the company was eyeing 25 million subscribers over the next two years and 50 million in the next 4-5 years.

However, he said the company intended to sign up 12 million mobile subscribers by March 2005.

Pointing out that the company would cover 5,000 towns in India by the end of March 2005, Mittal said, "We will almost be in the same league as the incumbent, Bharat Sanchar Nigam."