JSW Group wants to create 'Maruti Moment' with new energy vehicles, says Sajjan Jindal

Sajjan Jindal the chairman of the JSW Group says he wants to create a ‘Maruti Moment’ with the “new energy vehicles.” 

"With MG, my dream is that we will create a Maruti Moment. Like 40 years ago, 1984, when Maruti came into India, it changed the auto industry. It brought in very efficient cars, very lightweight cars, and the Ambassadors and the Fiats went into oblivion and Maruti brought in state-of-the-art new cars and today they are the 50% market leader. They control market share. So I believe that with MG we can create a new energy vehicle Maruti Moment." 

The newly formed Joint Venture JSW MG Motor India has set itself a target of selling over 1 million new energy vehicles by 2030 and wants to grab a 33% share of the new energy vehicle or electrified vehicle space.

On the game plan ahead, Jindal said JSW Group is here to disrupt the Indian automotive industry, “JSW is a relatively aggressive group which believes in scale and we plan to create disruption. We believe in scale, we are going to churn the industry, we will create disruption. We will bring one car every three to four months starting September. New cars that India has not seen, we will manufacture them in India for India, but we will also export them, that is my dream, that is the passion I am working for.”

Jindal who spoke of his childhood dream of making cars – spoke for the first time after announcing a joint venture with M G Motor India in November 2023.

Reminiscing the past, an excited Jindal recalled, "Making cars has been my childhood passion. I was very young when I built my first car in the garage. I was probably 12 years old when I built a small car. I used to go around our factory in Hisar, in Haryana. So that passion stayed, but I then digressed to making steel, which is also a very interesting business. But then this idea of making a car in India by the JSW group remained in my head." 

He informed that during 2015-2016, as the new technology vehicles came in, electric vehicles came in and Jindal thought, that this was an opportunity for the Group to enter the car business. 

In 2017, at the group level, JSW Group did build a team of experts but then somehow it didn't happen. And then COVID hit and plans changed.

Quoting a famous movie dialogue, Jindal said, “There is a saying in Hindi, that when you ask for something from your heart, the whole universe comes together to make it come true. So that is exactly what has happened. And this opportunity of MG, came along," Jindal elaborated on his journey of moving into the automotive industry. "This was an opportunity which we felt was quite amazing. The technologies coming from world leaders like SAIC. MG is a global brand with a history of 100 years. So, we thought, we must really grab this opportunity to build new energy vehicles in India."

"We plan to make new energy vehicles and bring down our import bill of oil as India’s passenger electric market explodes from 4 to 10 million vehicles and de-risk the growing dependence on oil imports which will rise proportionally,” explained Jindal.

At JSW, what we have planned and what we have thought is that we will produce not only the most modern cars, and most technologically advanced cars along with MG, but we will also make the whole ecosystem that goes along with it. Manufacturing of the batteries, the e-drives, the technology to connect the cars. So all these things will be done and I really believe in these new energy vehicles which are coming in.

He assured that the company will resort to deep localisation, design, R&D and manufacture them right here in India.

“I believe in India, we can do wonders as a country, with the technology from MG Motor and the manufacturing capabilities of the JSW Group, it is an unmatchable combination,” he asserted.  

Apart from the deep localisation back end, the JSW Group’s energy arm will work with startups to create a nationwide infrastructure, assured Jindal.

(With inputs from Manobhava Baruah)