"1976, I was all of 18, and when I stepped into the world of business, the capital I had in my hand was 20,000 rupees." — Sunil Mittal

I personally believe every country has the same amount of spectrum. It is not that India has less... It needs to be vacated from other places; that is what other countries have also done.

The only pool of young people lies in Saudi Arabia, some of the Middle-East countries, and few African countries. But they are not prepared as Indians are... we travel well; we are accepted globally very well, and that makes India truly a place to source world's workforce.

I started with capital of about $1,500, a princely sum for a student coming out of college, an amount I borrowed from my father.

I was born in 1957 as the second son of the late Sat Paul and Lalita Mittal. My father was a politician and, at one point of time, an MP. A gap of two years separates me from both my elder brother Rakesh and younger sibling Rajan.

The vision that we and the Rothschilds have for India is to link Indian fields to the world and put the produce, as fresh as it can be, on Western tables in 4-5 days.

Even while in school - initially, Vineberg Allen in Mussourie, and later, a number of schools in Ludhiana - I aspired to achieve great things in life. Admittedly, I wasn't quite sure about what these great things would be.

We lived by very complex import and export policies, a very complex industrial licensing regime. Very few people could get licences, which were required right from manufacturing a pin to manufacturing a car, and generally went to people who found favour with the government.

In my wide travels across the world and my meetings with various heads of states, be that Africa or South Asia, Singapore or in high level meetings in the U.S., U.K. or Japan, one common mention is about Dr. Singh's extraordinary reputation as a Wise Man, an outstanding Economist and a fine Gentleman.

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1976, I was all of 18, and when I stepped into the world of business, the capital I had in my hand was 20,000 rupees.