Sajjan Jindal bats for tariffs, says without them India will be a dumping ground: Report

Sajjan Jindal

JSW Group chairman and managing director Sajjan Jindal has backed tariffs to protect domestic industry, saying without these levies India would become a dumping ground.

The comments come as India and the rest of world watches with concern the moves of the incoming Trump administration. Donald Trump has warned of higher tariffs against countries like India, demanding a level playing field for US goods.

“Indian government is aware that the whole world is putting tariffs. Unless we put tariffs, we will become a dumping ground, especially for the Chinese. All their surplus products will come to India," Jindal said in an interview to Times of India.

He also spoke about US tariffs, their implications for India and his company's investment plans.

Tariff wars

Speaking on sectors requiring protection (from tariffs), Jindal said, "It will be almost anything and everything, right from steel, petrochemicals, and textiles to lights, furniture, tyres, carbon black. China is much, much lower in costs than us."

He also about how western countries created the World Trade Organization (WTO) when they were industrially strong and then after China's growth, they started imposing tariffs.

"The western world has been very smart. When they were industrially strong and could export products across the world, they created organisations like GATT and WTO, from where they spoke against tariffs and advocated free trade and efficiency," Jindal told ToI.

When China started to grow and emerged as the factory to the world, the west realised it's "getting stuck".

"This whole WTO concept is getting dismantled... If they don't do it, their industry is going to shut down because over the years their cost of manufacturing has gone through the roof. There is no way they can compete. Everybody is threatened and feel that if they don't put tariffs, then their industry is going to shut down," he said.

Investment plans

According to the report, JSW Group plans to invest $30 billion in renewable energy, battery storage, battery manufacturing and cell manufacturing.

The company will raise its capacity in the steel sector from 28 million tonnes to 50 million tonnes. This will need an investment of $25 billion. Another $15 billion will be spent in sectors like cement, automobile, infrastructure.

As reported by Moneycontrol, cash and cash equivalents of Tata Steel and JSW Steel have fallen by 45 percent to 28 percent between FY22 and FY24, respectively, after reaching historical peaks from windfall gains, driven by higher steel prices during the pandemic years.

The rapidly depleting cash reserves of India’s top steelmakers over the past three years could raise concerns about their ability to service existing debt or raise fresh debt to fulfil capex commitments, analysts said.

The sharp decline in cash reserves comes amid heightened competition from Chinese steelmakers, which has put pressure on margins and reduced profitability, analysts said. As of September 30, the cash reserves of Tata  Steel and JSW Steel covered less than 15 percent of their respective gross debt.