JSW'S MAN OF STEEL

Sajjan Jindal has steered JSW Steel through domestic and global headwinds, increased capacity and acquired new businesses, to turn the company into the country's largest steelmaker.

- NEVIN JOHN

JSW GROUP CHAIRMAN Sajjan Jindal has a high risk appetite. JSW Steel faced contrasting outcomes when the steel cycle slipped thrice in the past three decades. In the 1990s, when young Jindal was building a brand new steel plant at Vijayanagar, Karnataka, with the still unproven corex technology, the industry demand hit a trough. The company defaulted on loans, and took five years to come out of corporate debt restructuring.

The second time when the sector crashed, post the global financial downturn in 2008, JSW Steel was financially sound and acquired sick assets, including Ispat Industries and Welspun Maxsteel.

When Essar Steel, Bhushan Steel, Bhushan Power and Steel (BPSL), among others, filed for bankruptcy in 2007, JSW Steel went for the prowl again. It acquired BPSL for ₹19,350 crore, and along with Aion Investment, took over Monnet Ispat and Energy for ₹2,875 crore.

But then, Sajjan Jindal has encountered many headwinds during a four decade-long journey in steelmaking, sailed through loan default, commodity crisis, pandemics and war.

“There is something which is beyond our control. I only think about what is in my control,” says Jindal. Runaway inflation, the Russia-Ukraine war and supply chain disruptions amid the pandemic had troubled JSW Steel. The tightening of central bank policies across the globe also had an adverse impact on steel demand, leading to a decline in prices. In the first half of FY23, elevated costs of raw materials and inputs weighed on margins. The government imposed duties on domestic steel exports in May 2022, which also affected profitability.