The declaration took place 9 months after the JSW Group had entered the car enterprise after forming a three way partnership with China-based SAIC Motor, which now owns the British-origin MG model of autos.
Jindal’s intention of doubling down on the car enterprise will culminate in India getting its first new homegrown carmaker this millennium. However why does a legacy group, whose money cow is the metal enterprise, need to get into the intensely aggressive car sector given the dangers?
India’s automobile market is likely one of the most consolidated on the planet. In line with knowledge from authorities portal Vahan, the highest 4 carmakers—Maruti Suzuki, Mahindra, Tata Motors and Hyundai—managed about 80% retail market share of the 4.5 million passenger automobile market on the finish of 2025. A lot of that share comes from inner combustion engine (ICE) autos, which make up 70% of the market.
Manufacturers resembling Ford Motor, Basic Motors have fallen by the wayside within the ICE rink through the years, whereas different international giants, together with Volkswagen Group, Nissan and Renault, proceed to wrestle.
JSW, nevertheless, has no plans to skate on ICE, and can as an alternative deal with new age autos, hybrids and EVs, which made up simply 7% of the nation’s complete passenger automobile market on the finish of 2025 (CNG autos account for the remaining 23%). Business estimates, together with from Hyundai Motor India and JSW MG Motor, counsel that EVs and hybrid autos will represent about 30% of the general market, which is anticipated to hit the 5.6-6 million mark by 2030.
A hybrid and EV-focused product push, collaborating with international gamers on numerous automobile and plant applied sciences, constructing giant product capability and tapping its JV with MG Motor for assist seem like the broader contours of the conglomerate’s plan.
The brand new alternative
Whereas JSW has not made its plans clear, there’s a glimmer of readability on some fronts. The group’s car ambitions are being spearheaded by an organization referred to as JSW Inexperienced Mobility. The title underlines that the corporate’s focus can be on hybrids and electrical autos, each business and the passenger variety.
JSW Inexperienced Mobility has two subsidiaries—JSW GreenTech Ltd, which is able to make business autos, and JSW Motors, which is able to deal with passenger autos.
The partnership with China’s SAIC for JSW MG Motor India is unrelated to the above firms and was made by JSW Ventures, a separate group firm.
Whereas the group is but to roll out a automobile, JSW Motors is anticipated to launch its first automobile within the October to December quarter.
Outlining JSW’s method in an emailed response to Mint, Ranjan Nayak, the person chosen to drive JSW’s automobile ambitions, stated the chance for a contemporary car model lies within the new power automobile area. “Client mindsets are shifting, expertise transitions are reshaping value constructions and product architectures, and the standard benefits of legacy gamers are being redefined,” Nayak wrote. “That is an opportune time for brand spanking new home-grown gamers with in-depth manufacturing experience in capex-intensive industries,” he added.
Whereas hybrid expertise is presently provided solely by Maruti Suzuki, Honda Vehicles and Toyota Kirlosokar, the EV leaderboard has been unstable. As of January, manufacturers within the EV area included Tata Motors, JSW MG Motor, Mahindra, Vietnam’s Vinfast and Chinese language large BYD. Maruti Suzuki has simply began promoting its EVs in India whereas Hyundai’s Creta electrical has seen little traction.
In 2025, each sturdy hybrid autos and electrical autos noticed a powerful surge in development. Whereas sturdy hybrid autos grew 83% to shut at 106,000 items, EV gross sales grew 77% to 177,000 items.
Enter benefit
The JSW Group, which was based by Sajjan Jindal in 1982, has primarily been within the metal, infrastructure and power companies however has diversified to an extent lately. One edge the car subsidiary will get pleasure from due to the group’s diversified pursuits lies in entry to uncooked supplies and energy, which is able to assist it handle prices higher.
For any automobile, metal is among the many most elementary necessities. On common, based on JSW, 60-65% of a automobile’s weight would come from metal. “It is smart for the nation’s largest metal producer to personal a automobile firm; automotives being the biggest client of metal. This strategic integration is how the Japanese keiretsu and South Korean chaebols have traditionally thrived in adjoining industries,” Rajendra Srivastava, Novartis professor of promoting technique & innovation on the Indian Faculty of Enterprise, stated.
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Paints are one other key enter that the corporate will have the ability to supply internally, from group firm JSW Paints, which has greater than 400,000 kilolitres of capability. Business estimates counsel a small automobile might require 2-4 litres of paint whereas a much bigger automobile might require round 6 litres.
Plant operations additionally want big quantities of energy, each thermal and renewable, which JSW Power produces. One other pillar of the vertical integration technique would be the firm’s newest auto element enterprise, JSW AutoComp, which was established final June.
Most of all, each hybrids and EVs will want batteries, and on that entrance, a complete 50GWh of EV battery capability is anticipated to be accomplished in three phases by 2032, based on a presentation made by the corporate to a Japanese delegation in July, a replica of which Mint has seen. Jindal confirmed in December that the corporate’s lithium-ion battery giga manufacturing unit will come up in Nagpur to help in localisation.
“JSW will construct a battery cell manufacturing facility in Maharashtra, whereas JSW Motors is actively exploring partnerships with world gamers, together with firms from China, Korea, and different markets, to entry superior and scalable applied sciences,” Nayak added.
Know-how partnerships
Whereas borrowing from the playbook of the Indian firms resembling Tata Motors and Mahindra because it appears for entry to expertise exterior, JSW has way more direct and aggressive plans in place with a watch on China not like its rivals, who seemed West.
Talking on the sidelines of the World Hindu Financial Discussion board in December, Jindal stated the group is lining up expertise partnerships in numerous international locations, together with China, Germany and the UK.
Nayak instructed Mint that the corporate has to acknowledge the worldwide actuality that Chinese language automakers have taken a lead in electrical and hybrid expertise. “Our method is aligned with this world actuality. We’re evaluating partnerships with globally related gamers that serve various abroad markets at scale, making certain that any collaboration is benchmarked in opposition to worldwide requirements and future-ready platforms,” Nayak stated, with out revealing any particulars.
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Puneet Gupta, director at S&P International Mobility, said that JSW can have a confirmed and powerful product lineup if it will get entry to expertise from Chinese language carmaker Chery Vehicle, which it’s in talks with. “With the ability to provide merchandise of the very best high quality, which is feasible by collaborating with China, may help the model acquire fast traction within the Indian market,” Gupta added.
Whereas the core automobile expertise is anticipated to be Chinese language, to be regularly localised in India, the corporate is concurrently working with Indian firms resembling Jio, Tata Elxsi, and KPIT to develop software program and different technological capabilities for its autos, stated Nayak.
“On manufacturing and operations, our focus is on studying partnerships with German and Korean gamers, who deliver deep strengths in precision engineering, automation, high quality methods, and course of excellence,” stated Nayak.
However for all of the speak, the standing of the corporate’s technological partnerships remains to be not clear. Except for Chery Vehicle, JSW has held parleys with at the very least 4 Chinese language firms—Gotion, Cospowers, Svolt and Soundon—for battery expertise and Geely for automobile platforms, Mint reported on 2 September. However the path ahead is unclear for now.
The MG overhang
Whereas the corporate’s commentary has pointed in direction of hybrid expertise, it nonetheless has not indicated which kind of hybrid will probably be. Executives within the know counsel that will probably be a plug-in hybrid with a spread prolonged electrical automobile (REEV) doubtlessly coming later.
The guess on hybrid autos is meant to behave as a hedge in opposition to being conflated with the corporate’s different car model, JSW MG Motor India. At present, greater than three fourths of JSW MG Motor’s gross sales come from electrical autos.
“From a expertise standpoint, whereas JSW MG has a powerful deal with EVs, JSW Motors is evaluating a broader expertise combine, together with hybrids and different various powertrains,” Nayak stated.
However MG Motors can also be not shying away from the hybrid area. In an interview with Mint, the corporate’s managing director, Anurag Mehrotra, stated that the carmaker will deliver plug-in hybrids into the nation beginning this 12 months as there are nonetheless apprehensions about EVs in client minds.
However will this put it in direct competitors with its sister JSW Motors and result in overlaps? “The query is extra appropriate for JSW Motors to reply,” stated Mehrotra, dodging the question.
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Nayak is assured that two manufacturers inside the similar group won’t be an issue as each could have distinct merchandise, expertise and an id. JSW Motors will even look to faucet MG Motor for synergies in areas resembling distribution community to construct its enterprise within the Indian automobile market.
Large capability
Regardless, the results of the partnerships being inked will come collectively at a mega 500,000-unit facility being in-built Chattrapati Sambhaji Nagar in Maharashtra. Nayak confirmed that the plant can be scalable to 1 million items each year relying on the wants of the corporate.
The preliminary put in capability can be among the many largest within the Indian market after the highest 4 carmakers. “At a future stage, we stay open to exploring export alternatives, significantly within the context of evolving world commerce and rising market dynamics. Current international commerce agreements and developments in European markets additionally current potential avenues that we’ll proceed to guage as a part of our long-term development technique,” Nayak added.
The corporate can also be believed to be planning expertise centres throughout 10 to 12 cities.
The retail growth plan consists of turning to MG Motor India, which has been promoting within the Indian market since 2019. “We are going to consider synergies inside the broader group ecosystem, together with with JSW MG Motor India, wherever such collaboration enhances operational effectivity, velocity to market, or buyer expertise,” Nayak added.
Apparently, Nayak doesn’t have an car background. He has come into the position after a decade in JSW Group’s metal enterprise. His management staff includes two distinct swimming pools of expertise, one from the conglomerate’s personal companies and the opposite from throughout the car sector.
Vice chairman and chief advertising officer Ravinder Jain joined from Tata Motors, the place he spent greater than a decade as head of name advertising.
Chief monetary officer Balajirao Pothana, who has additionally been inducted into the board, joined from renewable power firm AM Inexperienced Group. A.S. Dahiya, who was affiliate vp at JSW Metal, was inducted into the corporate’s board as extra director in October. Chief business officer Amit Jain joined in January after a seven-year stint at auto retail firm Jubilant MotorWorks Pvt Ltd. Raskhit Bisaria, former normal supervisor and area head at Hyundai Motor India, joined in December as head of product planning and technique division.
Whereas the corporate has been capable of put its plan collectively in a comparatively quick time period, it’s anyone’s guess whether or not Sajjan Jindal’s dream will result in a Maruti second. The JSW Group founder will not be one to draw back from threat, particularly within the metal enterprise, as he has proved up to now. However not like metal, a enterprise he has been in for many years, the car panorama is comparatively uncharted territory. Will the risk-taker have the ability to script a hit right here as properly? Or will he meet the destiny of the various carmakers who crashed and burned by the wayside? India’s roads will reveal the reply in time.
Key Takeaways
- Sajjan Jindal is doubling down on the car enterprise.
- It could culminate in India getting its first new homegrown carmaker this millennium.
- JSW has no plans to skate on ICE, and can as an alternative deal with new age autos, hybrids and EVs.
- The brand new carmaker can leverage the group’s entry to uncooked supplies and energy.
- This strategic integration is how the Japanese keiretsu and South Korean chaebols have traditionally thrived.
- As well as, the group is lining up expertise partnerships in numerous international locations, together with China, Germany and the UK.
- The guess on hybrid autos is meant to behave as a hedge in opposition to being conflated with the corporate’s different car model, JSW MG Motor India.