00:00:17
naven thanks so much for joining us
00:00:19
today thank you um I'm going to ask you
00:00:21
a couple questions first about um sort
00:00:23
of the turnaround that you affected at
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the company at uh gendal steel and power
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you are credit with really kind of
00:00:31
taking a moderately running business
00:00:33
right a factory in in fact and really
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turning it into a star performer so tell
00:00:38
us a little bit about what were the key
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drivers of that
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turnaround okay when I um after
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completing my MBA uh from University of
00:00:46
Texas at Dallas uh I went straight from
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Dallas Texas to rard in madha Pradesh at
00:00:53
that time it was um middle of nowhere
00:00:57
and this steel division of of gindel
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strips limited one of a flagship company
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was making huge losses and uh it was
00:01:06
making losses like around uh 1520
00:01:09
million U every month every every year
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sorry and my father you know said no
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don't worry this company will make at
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least uh 25 million profit perom and I
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couldn't believe him I said the company
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making you know 15 20 million uh losses
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how the hell is going to make it 25
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million U dollar profit every year but
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then I worked and worked it has all been
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team effort you know I could have never
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done anything I mean no one can do
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anything alone so it has been team
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effort uh my father kept on U guiding me
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uh kept on giving me the courage to to
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go ahead and every time I would be in
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despair I would go and speak to him and
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he would encourage me to do it and then
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slowly slowly things changed and U we
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were able to start getting get good
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production then the markets changed
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steel started to do really well then we
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uh changed the company we from a we
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hived off the division into a separate
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company called jindel steel and power
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limited and then we have never really
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looked back we uh even during the
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downturn jindel steel and power paid all
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its interest payments repayments on time
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every time so we built an impeccable uh
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track record uh for the company and now
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then we set up a India's first mega
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power project first 1,000 megawatt
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project power project in the private
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sector so we implemented that now Jindal
00:02:41
steel and power has uh the highest
00:02:44
market capitalization of any steel
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company in the private sector in India
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and we've been able to do it with a team
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effort of the ENT all the people working
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in the company and I would just say that
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God has been very kind to us and the
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kind of policies we realized there was a
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extreme shortage of power in the country
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electricity so we set up uh a power
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plant which is doing exceedingly well
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whatever products Ste uh nobody was
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making U large sized parallel flange
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beams so we started to make beams we
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started to make uh plates in bigger
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sizes always tried to make products
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which there was a there was a demand for
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there was a shortage for to be able to
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meet up that demand and that really
00:03:28
helped us so it's sounds like from what
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you're saying that you really kind of
00:03:32
had a strategy to um really uh service
00:03:36
the domestic market right where there
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was going to be that kind of demand for
00:03:40
the long steel products that you
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manufacture and also um it looks like
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you're doing a lot of integration
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backward and forward integration um you
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know in in the business so can you talk
00:03:51
a little about that your um going I mean
00:03:54
you have some mining stuff right uh coal
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and ore and stuff like that um and um
00:04:00
that's really helped sort of stabilize
00:04:02
your business while some of the other
00:04:03
steel companies have really been hit by
00:04:05
the downturn right um you're right U
00:04:08
it's very very important to have control
00:04:11
over the key raw materials uh we do not
00:04:14
have we do not control all the raw
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materials but say uh to the tune of 60
00:04:18
to
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70% uh raw materials we have our own
00:04:21
captive mines we have a captive mines
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for irono for non-cooking coal even
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though uh the non-cooking coal is a very
00:04:29
poor quality but then we beneficiate it
00:04:32
again this something uh my father late
00:04:36
op jindel he really believed in this he
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believed that we must control our raw
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materials if we do not then other people
00:04:43
are going to control us so we made a
00:04:46
conscious effort to acquire coal mines
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to acquire iron or mines and even though
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sometimes they were not the best quality
00:04:54
raw materials and then we invested a lot
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to make those raw materials suitable and
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that has really helped us because uh
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there has been a lot of volatility in
00:05:05
the raw material prices and you're right
00:05:07
a lot of companies have suffered a lot
00:05:10
and say we did not have and we still do
00:05:12
not have cooking coal and because of
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which we also suffered hugely because
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prices from $100 per ton suddenly jumped
00:05:20
up to $300 $350 per ton so it's very
00:05:24
important to be a a player to have a
00:05:26
fully integrated operations that's from
00:05:29
the mining till the finished products so
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sometimes some areas U you know if it's
00:05:34
hurting then the whole chain you know
00:05:37
makes you stronger so one of the things
00:05:39
that if any anyone does an analysis of
00:05:42
you know India's needs right now
00:05:44
infrastructure obviously is a huge one
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and your company is obviously cited
00:05:49
right in the middle of that in terms of
00:05:52
um steel and energy and stuff like that
00:05:54
tell me a little about what you see as
00:05:56
your company's role in um the
00:05:58
infrastructure Improvement ments um you
00:06:00
know obviously you have an interesting
00:06:02
perspective as um someone who is a head
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of a company in a private sector but
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also as a member of parliament I believe
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since um several years so uh tell us a
00:06:12
little bit about how you see that um you
00:06:15
know the infrastructure Improvement
00:06:16
happening okay I see um as from as far
00:06:20
as our company is concerned jindel steel
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and power we uh want to concentrate more
00:06:26
and more one is steel to uh to expand
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our steel operations to expand the
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capacity presently we're making 3
00:06:35
million tons of steel from 3 million we
00:06:37
want to take it to 20 million tons by uh
00:06:41
2020 so we want to increase the steel
00:06:43
making capacity and then even more
00:06:46
importantly we're going to give more
00:06:48
Focus to power generation presently we
00:06:51
are generating around uh 1,500 megawatt
00:06:54
of power we want to take this to around
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20,000 megawatt of power and a lot of
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power we want to generate from hyle
00:07:03
sources so that we are not contributing
00:07:05
to global warming or to climate change
00:07:09
we want to generate there lots of hdle
00:07:11
power potential in the northeast of
00:07:13
India and in fact right now a company
00:07:15
has been awarded one of the one of the
00:07:18
biggest uh hydle projects which is 4,000
00:07:21
megawatt and there is no huge water
00:07:24
reservoire there's no need to do any
00:07:27
relocation of people it's basically uh
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run of the River Project which is
00:07:32
environmentally which is very very
00:07:33
friendly so that but it's a very
00:07:35
challenging project in this northeast
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that I'm talking about there hardly any
00:07:40
roads it's very it's all the whole
00:07:41
region is very very mountainous and
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there's hardly any roads to be build to
00:07:46
build such big uh projects but that's a
00:07:48
challenge that's um I want to we we the
00:07:51
whole company is going to be working and
00:07:54
these projects one has to work closely
00:07:56
with the government also because some
00:07:58
infrastructure for these large projects
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has to be given by the government
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especially the the roads and everything
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so we are working closely with the
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government and we hope in the next 78
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years we're able to achieve this so one
00:08:11
of the things that you just touched upon
00:08:12
is working in some areas especially in
00:08:15
the northeast of India I think you have
00:08:17
some projects in orisa for example right
00:08:20
so um can you elaborate a bit on those
00:08:22
challenges because um obviously those
00:08:25
are some of the places that need the
00:08:26
infrastructure the most and um
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especially if you're trying to perhaps
00:08:31
Source some raw materials or do some
00:08:33
projects there um you you really kind of
00:08:35
almost need the infrastructure to build
00:08:37
the infrastructure right so talk to us
00:08:39
about some of the challenges of working
00:08:41
in some of those less developed areas
00:08:44
okay most of the times that you're
00:08:46
building your steel plants and power
00:08:48
plants is really in the areas which are
00:08:51
not very developed so as part of your
00:08:54
project you also have to develop roads
00:08:57
over there you have to bring water you
00:08:59
have to build your transmission lines so
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you have to develop the minds power
00:09:04
Generations so all these things when you
00:09:06
do and when you are doing these things
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uh in a place where there aren't good
00:09:12
facilities you have to have U good
00:09:15
quality education good quality schools
00:09:17
good quality medical care because if you
00:09:20
want to attract good talent and if you
00:09:22
want good people to come and stay in
00:09:24
these remote areas you know everyone's
00:09:26
expectations today are very high
00:09:28
everyone wants good quality education
00:09:30
for their children good medical
00:09:32
facilities for themselves to attract
00:09:33
them because India offers a lot of
00:09:35
opportunities you know all over so when
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we go to these places like you mentioned
00:09:40
urisa or jarand so we do all these
00:09:42
things building roads bringing in uh
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water pipelines making transmission uh
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lines um making the townships where our
00:09:52
people would stay and building schools
00:09:54
hospitals and these things the city also
00:09:58
benefits uh from all this and uh there
00:10:01
is a issue regarding because when you
00:10:03
want to do set up a project it obviously
00:10:06
uh it needs a lot of land and in India
00:10:09
land is under a lot of pressure because
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our huge population is there so we try
00:10:14
to look for land which is uh not very U
00:10:18
not high yielding land not a land with
00:10:20
high yield so try look for yeah yeah non
00:10:23
aable land we look for Baron lands uh
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mostly you can't get it 100% but we try
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75 to 90% which is Baron land so it's
00:10:32
easier you know people are then very
00:10:33
happy to sell that land and then also we
00:10:36
ensure if you're buying some people's
00:10:38
land even the RNR policy of the
00:10:41
government of India that's
00:10:43
Rehabilitation and resettlement policy
00:10:44
of the government that also wants you to
00:10:47
give vocational training to these people
00:10:49
so that they could be employed later
00:10:51
gainfully in the company and also you
00:10:53
you build new houses for them you give
00:10:55
them u a very good price for their land
00:10:58
and then Employment so it is a win-win
00:11:00
situation for all and then uh a company
00:11:03
has been able to with its work has been
00:11:06
able to build a really good name for
00:11:07
itself so that people trust you and you
00:11:11
try to take care of all the stakeholders
00:11:14
so then it's a win-win situation for
00:11:16
everyone so it sounds like your company
00:11:18
is involved in quite a bit of projects
00:11:20
so you're really developing the place as
00:11:23
well as um you know building some kind
00:11:24
of a um you know uh whether it's an or
00:11:28
development or whatever so what made you
00:11:31
um want to go for Parliament I'm just
00:11:33
curious how did you feel that fit into
00:11:35
sort of your strategy um for life okay
00:11:37
it's that's uh I joined uh the
00:11:40
parliament joined it's the first time
00:11:42
that young industrialist has joined
00:11:45
active politics in the history of India
00:11:47
uh that I did drawing inspiration from
00:11:50
my late father uh Shri op jindel uh he
00:11:54
joined politics when he was 60 years old
00:11:57
because he felt that the poor people
00:11:59
the underprivileged people they do not
00:12:01
get justice so and he said just being an
00:12:05
industrialist if we yes we can make
00:12:07
enough uh money for ourselves maybe we
00:12:10
can work for a million people if you
00:12:12
have a very big business maybe we can
00:12:14
work for 10 million people but it
00:12:17
definitely does not give you an
00:12:18
opportunity to work for a billion people
00:12:21
so joining politics for me is part of my
00:12:24
strategy to make the country of my
00:12:26
dreams rather than blaming others rather
00:12:29
than blaming politicians that they have
00:12:31
not done this they have not done that I
00:12:33
wanted to give the best years of my life
00:12:36
in making the country of my dreams in
00:12:38
serving the people of my country and
00:12:40
politics does give you that opportunity
00:12:43
so I'm very fortunate that congress
00:12:44
party especially Mrs Gandhi she gave me
00:12:47
this opportunity and the people of
00:12:49
kurukshetra that's my constituent in
00:12:51
kurukshetra is a very U historic place
00:12:54
that's where the epic battle of
00:12:56
Mahabharata was fought that's where Lord
00:12:58
Krishna gave the sermon of uh Gita so
00:13:02
people there they gave me their
00:13:03
blessings got me elected and I've been
00:13:06
last 6 years uh I have been this is my
00:13:09
second term now so I try to do the best
00:13:12
for my constituency and I keep raising
00:13:15
issues in the parliament for the Youth
00:13:17
of the country about the internal
00:13:19
security about the defense and wherever
00:13:21
uh whatever best I know I try to do that
00:13:24
talk a little bit about the youth
00:13:26
because um you you really are sort of um
00:13:29
I think seen as a role model as a young
00:13:31
MP um obviously there's been a lot of
00:13:34
talk about India's Youth and making sure
00:13:36
that the services infrastructure
00:13:38
education Etc are in place um because of
00:13:41
course the youth population is is
00:13:43
growing um what do you see as um sort of
00:13:46
the short-term must does in terms of um
00:13:49
the government you know what should it
00:13:50
be doing to help with that right uh Su
00:13:52
you know that India has a very large
00:13:55
population of the youth and we also do
00:13:58
realize that whichever country made uh
00:14:01
you know very fast progress it was
00:14:03
during that time when they had a the
00:14:06
largest population of the youth so India
00:14:08
is also going through that window of
00:14:10
opportunity but we do realize it's only
00:14:12
a window of opportunity it's not going
00:14:15
to remain like this forever so we have
00:14:17
to give good quality education good
00:14:21
quality skill sets to our youth so that
00:14:25
they can be gainfully employed they can
00:14:28
make meaningful contributions to the
00:14:31
development of the country and if we
00:14:34
keep our youth unemployed if they are
00:14:37
not able to effectively contribute to
00:14:40
the nation's development then obviously
00:14:42
it's it's unfortunate for them but it's
00:14:45
even more unfortunate for the country
00:14:47
because the country would have lost this
00:14:48
opportunity forever so our government uh
00:14:52
Congress Le government in India is
00:14:54
making allout efforts to utilize this
00:14:57
energy of the youth through we have the
00:15:00
biggest plan ever in the history of uh
00:15:03
the world which is the national rural
00:15:06
guaranteed employment uh scheme which
00:15:08
has already uh started to give and you
00:15:11
know um around 400 million people uh not
00:15:15
400 40 million people are families are
00:15:18
getting gainfully employed in this and
00:15:21
whole lot of schemes are there in place
00:15:24
already for giving good quality
00:15:26
vocational training we are making a lot
00:15:28
of E efforts in good quality primary
00:15:31
education in improving the nutrition so
00:15:34
you know they are healthy good quality
00:15:36
education good quality vocational skills
00:15:39
and then the way we are growing we are
00:15:41
going at very healthy uh GDP growth rate
00:15:44
and I'm sure in the coming years we'll
00:15:46
even touch double digit growth uh say
00:15:49
around 10% uh growth rate so then
00:15:52
there'll be whole lot of opportunities
00:15:54
in the in the economy and and the youth
00:15:57
would be uh ready to take on these
00:16:00
challenges and to to really grow the
00:16:03
country some years ago um you know you
00:16:07
were widely credited with um um
00:16:11
basically advocating for um allowing the
00:16:14
flag the Indian flag to be flown I
00:16:16
believe um by any citizen anywhere in
00:16:19
the country um you were inspired I
00:16:21
Believe by the fact that you saw
00:16:23
students um here in Texas when you were
00:16:25
studying um flying the American flag um
00:16:29
tell me how does something like that a
00:16:31
symbol which the flag is how does that
00:16:34
um help sort of um you know the country
00:16:37
from a business standpoint from morale
00:16:38
from you know the economic morale what
00:16:41
do you see as the importance of that why
00:16:43
was it so important to you to make sure
00:16:45
that the flag could be flown uh when I
00:16:47
was in the US I saw people taking so
00:16:50
much of pride in being able to display
00:16:54
their national flag MH you know say to
00:16:56
ask an American as to what the flag
00:16:59
means to them you know flag means a
00:17:01
whole lot to them it's only a symbolic
00:17:03
gesture but to see the flag because uh
00:17:06
when a person displays the country's
00:17:08
flag they rise above their religious
00:17:12
affiliations their political
00:17:13
affiliations and just show their love
00:17:16
and faith in the country so similarly in
00:17:19
India we have so many different regions
00:17:22
so many people coming from different
00:17:24
different casts regions political
00:17:27
affiliations Rel I affiliations so the
00:17:31
whole India all the Indians have to come
00:17:33
together as Indians and the national
00:17:36
flag is a symbolic gesture of that so
00:17:40
like I said more I want more and more
00:17:42
people to display the greatest symbol of
00:17:44
a country on their homes offices and
00:17:48
then even more importantly to live by
00:17:49
the ideals of the flag if everyone does
00:17:53
their job well if I did my job well and
00:17:55
others did their job well you know
00:17:57
there's no power on on Earth which can
00:17:59
stop India from becoming a very
00:18:01
prosperous very happy country I never
00:18:03
use the word superpower or anything
00:18:06
because that to me does not mean very
00:18:08
much what we want is that all the
00:18:09
Indians to be happy prosperous proud and
00:18:13
definitely the national flag has uh
00:18:16
helped somewhat in achieving that and
00:18:18
just bringing a a kind of a realization
00:18:21
that we are first Indians we first have
00:18:24
to work together work in Harmony and
00:18:27
peace with each other other and together
00:18:30
we can achieve uh good things for the
00:18:32
country thank you so much for joining us
00:18:34
today thank you
