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JSW is exploring the possibility of entering into the electric vehicle (EV) space, mostly four-wheelers, the company’s Joint MD, Jayant Acharya, told businessline in an interview. However, the foray “will not be through the listed entity of JSW Steel”, he said, but through another group arm or at a group level.
“As a group, JSW is looking at opportunities in the EV space. As the country grows and we move more towards electric mobility, that’s an opportunity being looked at. But it is not from the JSW Steel listed asset. It will be from the JSW Group at large,” said Acharya.
Earlier, steel baron Sajjan Jindal had hinted at the group’s intention to re-enter into the EV space. There have been reports of the company initiating talks and picking up stake in an automaker, too. When asked, Acharya said, “Group related explorations are being done right now. It would not be right to comment on a particular asset at this point of time.”
Raw material sourcing
According to Acharya, the company is on course to meet nearly 50 per cent of its raw material requirement for steel-making, that is sourcing iron ore, from its own captive mines. In FY23, as much as 41 per cent of its iron ore requirements were met from the company’s own captive mines.
“Our intention is to take the backward integration up to 50 per cent plus. We acquired four mines — two in Karnataka and two in Goa — which we would look to operationalise in two years. This would add to our target of going up to 50 per cent over time. We would continue to look at more options as they come in and would make strategic sense for us,” he said.
The company has also bid and won two coking coal mines in India, and these would add 1 million tonne of the key steel-making raw material source into the company’s system or 5 per cent of its coking coal requirements. “It would take approximately another two years to get the production up in these two mines,” Acharya said, adding that JSW Steel would explore investments in setting up washeries as the need arises.
According to him, the company “continues to scan (for) international (coal) assets” across places like Australia, Mozambique, Canada, the USA and Indonesia.
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