From one secondhand rolling mill, JSW grew into steel, ports and cricket
In 1982 Om Prakash Jindal bought a small re-rolling mill at Tarapur near Mumbai. Four decades later the JSW Group, now led by his son Sajjan Jindal, makes steel, cement, paint and power, runs ports, co-owns MG's Indian car arm, and fields the Delhi Capitals in the Indian Premier League.
The first mill, bought from Piramal Steel, was renamed Jindal Iron and Steel Company, and a steel plant at Vasind followed the same year. In 1994 the group set up Jindal Vijayanagar Steel in Karnataka's Ballari-Hospet region, and in 2005 the two steel businesses merged into JSW Steel, which today has an installed capacity of 35.7 million tonnes a year.
Diversification came steadily. JSW Energy began in 1994, JSW Infrastructure in 1999 and JSW Cement in 2009, with a cement plant as far afield as Fujairah in the UAE. Paint followed in 2019. Abroad, the group made rebar in Georgia from 2008, bought Italy's Aferpi in 2018 and invested in a Texas plant. The infrastructure arm now operates 13 ports and terminals in India plus one in the UAE.
Recent moves stretch further still. In December 2024 JSW bought two copper mines in Jharkhand, entering non-ferrous metals, and it plans a 500,000-tonne copper smelter in Odisha. A defence unit launched in 2024 with a stake in an off-road vehicle maker and later teamed with Shield AI to build drones in India. Its car venture with China's SAIC began in 2023 with a 35 percent stake in MG Motor India, and the group moved to raise that holding as SAIC withdrew.
Sport is a visible sideline: besides the Delhi Capitals, JSW owns Bengaluru FC in football and the Haryana Steelers in kabaddi, and runs a 42-acre training centre in Ballari district. Its foundation, set up in 1987, helps restore the ruins of Hampi.
Source: JSW Group
