The share price of Bharti Tele-Ventures Ltd. tells a dismal story. Since Bharti listed its stock just 11 weeks ago, its direction has generally been consistent. It has plunged 22% from its initial public offering price of 45 rupees (92 cents). But that doesn't do the company's story justice. Bharti has come from nowhere in just a few short years to become India's leading private-sector integrated telecommunications company. At the same time, Sunil Mittal, its chief executive, has become the latest poster child for successful entrepreneurship in India. He has prospered not in an area such as software, which isn't capital-intensive and doesn't need to pay a lot of attention to complex Indian government rules. More remarkably, he is tackling a business that sucks up capital and in which rules set by the authorities are extremely important. That makes it unsurprising that Mr. Mittal's role model is Jet Airways, the private-sector domestic airline, which has pulled passengers from government-controlled Indian Airlines significantly.
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