Steel tycoon Sajjan Jindal seeks non-tariff barriers on imports from US, EU

By Menaka Doshi

Indian steel tycoon Sajjan Jindal wants the government to counter American tariffs and Europe’s carbon tax with a similar levy, to level the playing field for companies like his. 

In an interview in New Delhi, the chairman of JSW Group spoke about the outlook for flagship JSW Steel Ltd. and confirmed a Bloomberg News report about its acquisition plans.

The excerpts below are lightly edited for clarity:

Carbon Taxes

Every region is thinking in terms of their own protection. US has import tariffs on steel. Europe has CBAM. The EU is subsidizing or supporting their own industries by giving them a huge amount of money, whereas other parts of the world are not getting that kind of support.

I hope India will also put non-tariff barriers or barriers for importation of steel. Any steel where the state is supporting industry.

Duties on China Steel?

For sure. Chinese steel is being supported by the state. Whereas we are not supported by the state. So it’s unfair competition. 

China, Europe, India Demand

Steel production in China remains very elevated and they produce over 50 per cent of worldwide steel. Their exports have gone up a little bit, but not to that extent that would reflect that domestic demand has come down. Europe, on the on the other hand, has slowed down and there are clear signs that Europe is struggling.

India is very strong. Going forward India will remain strong because the government spending on infrastructure is very, very high. Since 2004-05, I have not seen India as strong as it is now.

Teck Coal Assets

That is very high quality metallurgical coal, which we need in India for steel making. As the largest Indian steel company we believe that this could be a very strategic fit for us. So therefore, we are taking a significant stake in it.

We are looking to purchase 20 per cent-40 per cent and there will be other players in the consortium, strategic investors from Japan, from Korea, because these countries don’t have coking coal.  

Ballpark total acquisition cost is $8 billion. The transaction should close within a month.

Electric Vehicles

The future of mobility in India has to be electric vehicles.

The MG Motor deal (according to reports, Jindal plans to purchase a stake of 45 per cent-48 per cent) is close, but it’s still not there. Whether it gets done or not, we are in any case going to build our own EV — in about a year, year and a half we’ll aim for a test version. Built by JSW, known as JSW. We’re going to call it that, like BMW. to call it that, like BMW.