New Delhi, Dec. 16 : Bharti group Chairman and Managing Director Sunil Mittal was conferred upon Lal Bahadur Shastri National Award for Excellence in Public Administration, Academics and Management for the year 2009 on Wednesday for his superior business leadership by the President Pratibha Devisingh Patil in the national capital.

Mittal, while accepting the award named after former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, said he was greatly influenced by the ideals of Lal Bahadur Shastri, and would try to carry forward his message through his business and philanthropic activities.

"I still remember one of his urgings to the nation, to the people of India, when we had severe food shortage, was to have one meal a day. As a young lad, I was one of those children who decided to have one meal a day for few days. I am, therefore, extremely grateful for this and grateful to the jury and I do hope that going forward, we will be able to through our business, our philanthropic activities, carry this message forward," said Mittal.

Mittal has created one of the leading business groups in India with interests in telecommunications, financial services, retail, manufacturing, realty and agri-business.

India added a record 16.7 million mobile users in October, upsetting the trend of 10 to 12 million average monthly additions seen till then. The new users are coming in from smaller cities, or what are termed ''B'' and ''C'' circles, industry players said. (ANI)