Sunil Mittal, chairman of Bharti Airtel, has received the Harvard Business School Alumni Achievement Award, said the company in a statement issued today.

“Harvard Business School's management program helped me validate and sharpen my work towards putting together the building blocks to create one of the leading global telecom companies - Bharti Airtel,” said Mr Mittal.

He has helped in building India’s largest and the most successful telecom venture. His main contribution is in building a professional company at a time when most of the companies were family-run companies.

Mr Mittal has already received the Padma Bhushan, one of India's highest civilian awards. He is also member of international bodies including International Chamber of Commerce (ICC).

He also serves on the Prime Minister of India's Council on Trade & Industry, and chairman of the World Economic Forum's (WEF) Telecom Steering Committee.