We Will Invest What it Takes to Disrupt Auto Market: JSW's Sajjan Jindal

JSW Group will provide the capital required to scale its automotive businesses as Chairman Sajjan Jindal looks to disrupt India’s mobility market and establish the conglomerate among its leading players.

“There is no real war chest, but whatever is needed will be provided,” Jindal told reporters. “Now that we have entered this sector, we will make it big.”

JSW has committed up to $3 billion, or approximately ₹25,000 crore, over five years through its automotive arm to build an electric mobility ecosystem spanning passenger vehicles, commercial fleets, buses, batteries, charging and mobility services.

The group’s automotive interests include its 35% stake in JSW MG Motor India, JSW Green Mobility and JSW Greentech, which has launched the Ampstar electric commercial vehicle brand.

For Jindal, the entry into automobiles is not intended to create another small business within the group. The ambition is to use JSW’s capital, manufacturing experience and appetite for scale to challenge established automakers.

“Once we get into that area, we would also want to be one of the largest players, among the top two or three,” he said, referring to the commercial vehicle business.
Investment before break-even

JSW is investing about ₹2,500 crore in the first phase of its electric truck and bus venture. Its 90-acre facility at Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar will have annual capacity for 15,000 vehicles, comprising 10,000 electric buses and 5,000 electric trucks.

Jindal is looking beyond the initial investment and plant. He believes the Indian market can support JSW’s ambition to create capacity for 100,000 electric trucks by 2030.

Asked about the volume required for the electric commercial vehicle business to break even, Jindal made it clear that near-term profitability was not driving the group’s decisions.

“I am not even looking at breaking even,” he said. “It will be a very profitable business, that I am sure. We are going to be in a constant investment cycle.”

JSW Greentech management indicated that the business could approach break-even at annual volumes of around 3,000-4,000 vehicles. Jindal’s focus, however, is on establishing the business and building scale rather than optimising the first few years for profit.

Entering a difficult market

Jindal acknowledged that automobiles are outside JSW’s traditional areas of expertise. The group does not have the product legacy, distribution network or customer base built by established manufacturers over several decades.

“Why are we getting into this business of trucks and buses? It is not our core business. Neither do we have core competence in this business,” he said.

The Indian commercial vehicle market is crowded and backed by extensive dealer, service and supplier networks.

“It is a very crowded market. It is not an easy market. That also we know,” Jindal said. “But given the group’s strength and the new technology that we are bringing in, we believe that we can ramp up the capacity very quickly.”

JSW is seeking to overcome that disadvantage by entering through electric mobility rather than challenging incumbents with another range of diesel vehicles. Without legacy engine plants or older architectures to protect, it can build factories, products and customer offerings around electric powertrains.

The commercial vehicle business will begin with 55-tonne electric tractor-trailers before extending to tippers, fixed-body trucks, dumpers and smaller vehicle categories. Its electric bus range will span seven to 18 metres.

Seeking to be a catalyst

Jindal sees JSW’s entry as a way to accelerate competition and push the commercial vehicle industry towards electric mobility.

“The primary idea was to be a catalyst in changing the way India moves,” he said. “That is the main goal.”

JSW plans to support customers with financing, charging, maintenance, wet leases, cost-per-kilometre contracts and battery-as-a-service.

The group also has a ready deployment base. Its steel, cement and port operations are served by around 17,000 trucks, many of which operate on predictable closed-loop routes that can support charging or battery swapping.

This captive ecosystem gives JSW the ability to deploy electric trucks, demonstrate their economics and support their financing before expanding among external fleet operators.

JSW is also investing in its own vehicle architecture, software, battery-pack design and research capabilities. Of JSW Greentech’s first 100 hires, 88 were in research and development.

Prepared to take the risk

Jindal does not understate the difficulty of building an automotive company. His confidence rests on JSW’s willingness to invest, learn and remain committed through the early challenges of entering a complex industry.

“There will be challenges, there will be difficulties,” he said. “But once we jump into the ocean, we don’t have an option but to swim.”

The larger ambition is to create the kind of market impact that Maruti Suzuki achieved in passenger vehicles, but around electric mobility.

“We want to recreate the Maruti movement,” Jindal said. “I want to see how we can electrify the whole country.”

For JSW, the automotive endeavour is not being framed around the quickest route to break-even. It is a long-term industrial bet built around capital, scale and Jindal’s conviction that a new entrant can force the market to move faster.

With Inputs from Prerna Lidhoo and Mugdha Mishra