New Delhi: Airtel founder Sunil Mittal has said the huge valuations of Indian corporates, including his own company's US$10 billion valuation, are a result of a stable and solid economy under "a very solid leader".
In an interview with The Economic Times published on Thursday, Mittal said Prime Minister Narendra Modi's clear message during an 'inspirational' meeting in 2018 that his government would not favor any corporate was a key moment for Bharti Airtel, Which helped it to grow amidst intense competition. New entrant Reliance Jio.
Mittal said he had met Modi in September 2018 when the Prime Minister had told him that his government would work as per the set rules, would not take sides and would do whatever was good for the country.
With such certainty, companies like Bharti Airtel can compete in the market, Mittal said, adding that saying the government favors only a few is "absolutely wrong"."And in my view, a lot of the statements that this government is favoring only a few people are absolutely wrong," Mittal said. "There's money coming into this country, a lot of capital coming in, the stock market is going up. Such huge valuations are a function of a stable, solid, functional economy under a very solid leader," he said.
Mittal's rival Jio, owned by billionaire Mukesh Ambani, disrupted the telecom market in 2016 with free voice and data services, helping it overtake Airtel to become the country's No. 1 telco.
Battling market pressure, Airtel at that time realized that some decisions of the telecom regulator had an adverse impact on the existing market leader.In September 2018, he sought a meeting with the PM when Mittal was still president of the GSMA, a lobby group representing the interests of mobile network operators, and had recently completed his presidency of the International Chamber of Commerce. Was done. In that capacity too, he would occasionally brief Modi on WTO, G2 and other issues.
"So I took the liberty and got his permission to talk about the Indian telecom industry. I told him that things were going very bad and the situation was becoming very worrying," Mittal said during the free voice and call service offered by Jio. Said referring to data services. And there were a lot of rules that he felt he was in favor of.Recalling his meeting with Modi, where the two spoke in Hindi, Mittal said he had told the PM: "I will fight in the market, but I cannot fight the government."
"He (PM) told me that his government will not lean towards any side. Whatever is good for the country will be done. You fight in the market. I have no views on that.But from the government's side, you can be rest assured that the government will not take anyone's side," he said, recalling Modi's words.
And, he said, that was "enough" for him.
"I got up and thanked him...this was the turning point (for Airtel)," he said.
Mittal said he got indescribable energy and inspiration from the meeting, "Sometimes you need inspiration. I do that with my soldiers.I needed this from someone. There was a very strong special message (from the Prime Minister). Fight in the market. Here a man was telling me – who himself has fought against many odds – that you do your work and be assured that this government will do only what is good for the country.,
He said he has started looking at the rules in a bigger perspective – he believes these are not good for Airtel.
"Maybe lower tariffs were better... lower tariffs were better for democratizing data services. You start seeing things in a different context, because you are reassured that there is no agenda here," he said.
Jio's entry completely changed the internet landscape in India as affordable data tariffs led to mass penetration of smartphones. This helped accelerate the adoption of things like digital payments.
In an interview with The Economic Times published on Thursday, Mittal said Prime Minister Narendra Modi's clear message during an 'inspirational' meeting in 2018 that his government would not favor any corporate was a key moment for Bharti Airtel, Which helped it to grow amidst intense competition. New entrant Reliance Jio.
Mittal said he had met Modi in September 2018 when the Prime Minister had told him that his government would work as per the set rules, would not take sides and would do whatever was good for the country.
With such certainty, companies like Bharti Airtel can compete in the market, Mittal said, adding that saying the government favors only a few is "absolutely wrong"."And in my view, a lot of the statements that this government is favoring only a few people are absolutely wrong," Mittal said. "There's money coming into this country, a lot of capital coming in, the stock market is going up. Such huge valuations are a function of a stable, solid, functional economy under a very solid leader," he said.
Mittal's rival Jio, owned by billionaire Mukesh Ambani, disrupted the telecom market in 2016 with free voice and data services, helping it overtake Airtel to become the country's No. 1 telco.
Battling market pressure, Airtel at that time realized that some decisions of the telecom regulator had an adverse impact on the existing market leader.In September 2018, he sought a meeting with the PM when Mittal was still president of the GSMA, a lobby group representing the interests of mobile network operators, and had recently completed his presidency of the International Chamber of Commerce. Was done. In that capacity too, he would occasionally brief Modi on WTO, G2 and other issues.
"So I took the liberty and got his permission to talk about the Indian telecom industry. I told him that things were going very bad and the situation was becoming very worrying," Mittal said during the free voice and call service offered by Jio. Said referring to data services. And there were a lot of rules that he felt he was in favor of.Recalling his meeting with Modi, where the two spoke in Hindi, Mittal said he had told the PM: "I will fight in the market, but I cannot fight the government."
"He (PM) told me that his government will not lean towards any side. Whatever is good for the country will be done. You fight in the market. I have no views on that.But from the government's side, you can be rest assured that the government will not take anyone's side," he said, recalling Modi's words.
And, he said, that was "enough" for him.
"I got up and thanked him...this was the turning point (for Airtel)," he said.
Mittal said he got indescribable energy and inspiration from the meeting, "Sometimes you need inspiration. I do that with my soldiers.I needed this from someone. There was a very strong special message (from the Prime Minister). Fight in the market. Here a man was telling me – who himself has fought against many odds – that you do your work and be assured that this government will do only what is good for the country.,
He said he has started looking at the rules in a bigger perspective – he believes these are not good for Airtel.
"Maybe lower tariffs were better... lower tariffs were better for democratizing data services. You start seeing things in a different context, because you are reassured that there is no agenda here," he said.
Jio's entry completely changed the internet landscape in India as affordable data tariffs led to mass penetration of smartphones. This helped accelerate the adoption of things like digital payments.
