Steel tycoon's ambitions forged in clan work ethic

Roots of global entrepreneur Mittal's success lie in India

Named after the Hindu deity of fortune and prosperity, steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal is quintessentially Indian despite having lived in Britain since the 1970s.

His work ethic is unrelenting, he swears by an hour of yoga every day and he observes the traditional business practices of the famously prosperous community to which he belongs, the Marwaris of Rajasthan.

He employs the century-old partha accounting practice whereby Marwaris calculate all costs at the end of each working day. 'The partha report is a great device. It helps you get an instant snapshot of the financial health of your business without getting bogged down in too many details,' said Babu Ruia, a Marwari businessman in New Delhi.

Mr Mittal's Indian roots have played a part in his phenomenal rise - a recent merger between his Ispat International (ispat means 'steel' in Sanskrit) and its rival, the International Steel Group, has made him Britain's richest man, worth GBP12 billion (HK$171.6 billion). He now owns, or partly owns, 12 huge mills stretching from Canada and Trinidad to Khazakhstan and Indonesia.

He told Fortune magazine: 'Being Indian is a real advantage ... you learn a lot about bridging differences and reaching compromises when you grow up in a country with over 300 languages and ethnic groups.'