India: The Consulting Engineers Association of India has presented the Professional Excellence Award 2018 to Rajiv Mittal on 8th July 2019 at New Delhi, in recognition of his outstanding professional career spanning over three decades, dedicated to the water industry with a special focus on sustainability, and as Managing Director and Group CEO of VA Tech WABAG Limited, a pure-play Water Technology Multinational headquartered at Chennai.
Mr. Mittal has advocated sustainable use of water; leveraging alternative sources of water such as seawater & used water; efficient wastewater treatment, water recovery, and reclamation. He has also been very vocal in promoting advanced technologies for water treatment solutions for municipalities and industries at an affordable price and is a pioneer in building water neutral and power neutral plants both in India and abroad.
Mr. Mittal started his career with Dorr Oliver and later worked with John Brown Engineering, Glasgow. He then joined WABAG, UK and was deputed to India to set up a Strategic Business Unit in Water in 1996. He led the management buyout of WABAG India in 2005, making it the first-ever in corporate history in the water industry and later orchestrated the historic reverse acquisition of WABAG Group from Siemens in 2007. He followed it up with a successful listing on the bourses in 2010.
His vision and foresight have seen the company evolve from being an Indian subsidiary of an Austrian entity to a true Indian multinational with a presence across four continents and more than 20 countries along with three R&D centers in Austria, India, and Switzerland and over 100 patents.
Some of the accolades received during his illustrious career include:
- Mr. Mittal was presented ‘Eminent Engineer’ Award by the Institution of Engineers India during Oct 2018.
- Ranked amongst the Top 03 Most Influential Global Water leaders by WWI (UK) for 2 years (2017 & 2018) in a row.
- Ranked amongst Top 100 CEOs of India and 4th in the Infra & Engineering Sector by BT-PWC (2018).
- Lifetime Achievement Award (2015) by Indian Desalination Association for contribution to the water and desalination industry and entrepreneurial excellence.
- Exceptional entrepreneurial excellence by Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Award Program (2011).
- Declared the Water Icon during 2006-2007 in a poll conducted by Water Digest.
Mr. Mittal holds a degree in Chemical Engineering from the University Department of Chemical Technology (UDCT), Mumbai and is a Corporate Member of the International Water Association as well as Indian Desalination Association. He is also a Governing Council member of Great Lakes Institute of Management.
WABAG provides solutions in the water engineering sector. It acts as a systems specialist and full-service provider with a focus on the planning, installation, and operation of drinking and wastewater plants for local government and industry in the growth markets of Asia, North Africa, Middle East, the Central and Eastern Europe states. The WABAG Group is a multinational player with a workforce of over 1,600 and has companies and offices in more than 20 countries. Since 1995, WABAG has completed over 900 water and wastewater plants worldwide.
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