Resurgent Rajasthan: State tries to woo investors

Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje on the sidelines of the event said talks are on with the power ministry on signing MoUs for Uday, government's financial reform package for turning around debt-strapped power discoms. Power Minister Piyush Goyal on his part is also confident that Rajasthan would eventually become the shining star for Uday.

Rajasthan's discoms have one of the highest debts.Sajjan Jindal of JSW Steel also gave his view on 'Resurgent Rajasthan'Below is the verbatim of Sajjan Jindal's interview with CNBC-TV18's Kritika Saxena.Q: Specifically on Rajasthan, do you believe that this state has done enough to be able to increase the ease of doing business, ease of setting up business and ease of simplifying taxation norms over here?

A: As I said, every state is trying to woo investors to come and invest in their states which is a very positive thing and very welcome sign for industries to get competing states to attract industries, so it is a very good thing. Rajasthan has done quite well to do this Resurgent Rajasthan to attract investors. The Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje is very proactive and very dynamic and she has been always been even in her earlier regime, she was very aggressive to attract investment. That is when we invested big time in the power plant in Rajasthan as JSW Energy. So, it is a good thing to happen to the state as well as to the industries.

Q: So, in terms of expansion specifically, are you committing a larger amount of investment for Rajasthan and over and above Rajasthan, have you identified specific areas that you are looking at capital expenditure in. If yes, how much?

A: At the moment, we are not really committing any new investments in the state of Rajasthan, but we already have large investments here because right now, we are trying to consolidate the industry and there are a lot of stressed assets in the country which is what we are at the moment trying to take a look at and our major growth would be through inorganic acquisitions.

Q: Since you said that, what specifically because JSW Energy, JSW Steel has been very active, specifically from an energy point of view, has been very active in terms of expansion? But specifically, what is the kind of inorganic growth that you are looking at? Specific areas that you can now look at and would stressed assets make sense at this point, given that there already is a heavy debt burden for steel and power companies?

A: That throws in a lot of good opportunities because there is a huge stress in both these sectors, steel as well as power. And we are fortunately better placed to evaluate and to look at various opportunities to acquire these assets. So, therefore, we are very consciously, very carefully looking at various opportunities. I cannot tell you any specific targets right now, but we are looking at the various opportunities and as and when that happens, you will be first to know about it.

Q: The government is of course, trying to simplify ease of doing business, simplify policy regimes, but as far as the steel and mining sector is concerned, from dumping, from import issues, several issues are there in the near-term. What are the issues that you would be wary of and what are you expecting to see smoothened?

A: Steel industry is suffering globally from huge overcapacity in China and very large dumping of steel across the world. And India is also not spared from that point of view. Though the government of India is aware of this and have taken some action which has not yet yielded as much result as the industry was expecting. So, now, we are again, taking it up with the government and we are pushing very hard with the government to see that the steel industry which is a very basic industry for our country, which needs to be protected because if we have to grow steel industry, then the steel industry must be profitable. Today, steel industry is not profitable and therefore, there is no real expansion in the steel industry happening. So, the government also understands that and they are very keen that the dumping from China which is happening must get stopped. So, we are also working with the government to come in with the anti-dumping or safeguard duties on every product across the steel basket.

Q: The upcoming mining auctions, several areas that still need to be smoothened in terms of a policy regulatory framework, but how bullish are you that there would be transparency maintained and from JSW’s point of view, how active would you be in the mining auction?

A: This government, when it came last year, in May 2014, one of the first bills that they passed was the mining bills and I was very happy that this government sincerely wants business and transparency in business and therefore, they quickly brought in this amendment to the Mines and Mineral Development and Regulation (MMDR) bill. Now, the iron ore mines are going to get auctioned in Karnataka, in Odisha, in Jharkhand and it is a very welcome sign and JSW Steel is fully prepared, it has fully prepared itself to participate in these auctions especially in Karnataka because that is where our main steel plant is. But also we will look at acquiring iron ore mines also in Odisha which can feed our Maharashtra plant. So, we are very keenly awaiting these auctions to happen. And my information is that before March, few mines will come up in Karnataka and also in Odisha.

Q: Any capital expenditure (capex) for this or would it be too premature?

A: Whatever it will call for, we will doing it, because it is very critical for us to have our own captive mines.