The Gupta family, which last year restarted a mothballed steel plant in Britain and took over parts of Lord Swraj Paul’s Caparo Group, is to invest in a project to develop tidal lagoon power in Britain and India.

While the first tidal lagoons established by Tidal Lagoon Power, in which the Gupta’s SIMEC division has just acquired a stake, are planned for Wales, the two companies have set up a joint venture to develop large-scale tidal lagoons in India.

Feasibility studies are set to be conducted in the Gulf of Khambhat, SIMEC said, adding that they hoped to build on the co-operation in the clean energy space pledged by Britain and India, during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Britain last year.

“We are very pleased to invest in this ambitious and innovative enterprise that promises to provide low-carbon, base load energy and drive economic renewal through the development of a high-value supply chain that will create thousands of new jobs,” said Sanjeev Gupta, a representative of the family, who also heads Liberty House, which acquired the Caparo assets last year.

The Gupta family has been rapidly expanding its presence in Britain: in addition to the steel mill restart, and the Caparo acquisitions, they have expressed interest in Scottish assets that form part of Tata Steel’s long products division, currently the subject of exclusive talks between Tata Steel and Greybull Capital.

In an interview with BusinessLine last year, Gupta spoke of his eagerness to establish a sizable global steel business, focused on secondary steel production, though the company has been expanding in other areas, including renewable and clean energy.

The first tidal lagoon — set for Swansea Bay in Wales — is pegged to open in 2018, with an estimated cost of £1 billion.

The Gupta family has not revealed the size of its investment in the lagoons projects expect to say that it was over £10 million.

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