Indian industrialist billionaire Sajjan Jindal says his metal, paint, cement and power conglomerate will supercharge its investments to round $65bn over the following seven years, aiming to revenue from a nationwide infrastructure push that has made India the world’s fastest-growing marketplace for metal.

His family-led JSW Group additionally plans to increase into sectors from defence to electrical autos and is looking for “aggressive growth” in renewable power, Jindal mentioned in an interview with the Financial Times.

The plans present how India’s greatest industrialists goal to capitalise on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s precedence to revitalise the nation’s infrastructure and make it an financial powerhouse in Asia, as India is projected to overhaul China because the world’s most populous nation this 12 months.

The authorities has budgeted Rs10tn ($122bn) to spend on constructing roads, railways and different infrastructure for the fiscal 12 months starting this month, a 3rd larger than the earlier 12 months. Such an acceleration is why JSW Group is “so bullish”, its chair mentioned.

Although JSW is smaller than the storied Tata Group, which JSW competes with for the title of India’s greatest private-sector steelmaker, Jindal is without doubt one of the few billionaires whose affect straddles India’s financial system.

Taking over a portion of his politician-industrialist father’s enterprise empire, Jindal has led JSW Group as chair since 2011, rising its metals enterprise into India’s greatest listed metal firm by market worth at Rs1.7tn. The group additionally has a listed power enterprise and unlisted paint, cement and ports models.

Jindal was one of many enterprise leaders who initially agreed to again rival industrialist Gautam Adani, after the tycoon’s empire got here below hearth from New York-based quick vendor Hindenburg Research. A scheduled public share sale was pulled, though Jindal had agreed to take a stake.

India is “a very small club”, mentioned Jindal, and his motivation was “to have solidarity with our colleagues in the industry”, including Adani didn’t name on him to place in cash.

“Adani will get this as a learning experience and then take accordingly measured steps for the future,” he mentioned. “Overleveraging is a double-edged sword — you can grow fast but if God forbid something was to go wrong, then it can take you face down into the mud.”

“I think this Hindenburg thing has had a telling blow or telling effect on Adani. Their growth will slow down . . . but I’m sure they will bounce back,” he mentioned, including Adani had “good assets on the ground”.

Jindal mentioned he was cautious of leveraging and that JSW’s $65bn-$67bn funding plan to increase present enterprise traces and open solely new ones — greater than double the $25bn he mentioned it invested over the previous decade — will probably be principally financed by the group’s personal money and promoting shares.

Steel is “a cyclical business, and we cannot afford to have a high-leverage regime”, he mentioned.

JSW Steel swung to an surprising internet loss in its September quarter earlier than recovering the next quarter, underscoring its publicity to each commodity worth turbulence and shifting metal demand.

India’s infrastructure splurge is predicted to gas metal orders. The World Steel Association estimates India’s metal wants will swell 6.7 per cent from 2022 to 2023, in contrast with a worldwide development charge of 1 per cent.

To seize market share, JSW says it’s going to enhance complete metal manufacturing capability from 28mn tonnes within the 2021-22 monetary 12 months to 39mn tonnes within the 12 months ending March 2024.

Jindal added that JSW would borrow to assist finance enlargement in renewable power. It just lately purchased 1.75GW price of wind and photo voltaic belongings for $1.5bn, $1bn of which Jindal mentioned was debt. However, the group aimed to be “the least leveraged company within the energy space”.

JSW Group’s complete money owed stood at $10bn, he mentioned, in opposition to revenues of $22bn and working income of $6bn for the 2022 monetary 12 months.

Using its mining expertise, Jindal mentioned JSW would “100 per cent” be bidding for lithium blocks in India’s Jammu and Kashmir area, which the federal government is ready to public sale this 12 months.

Lithium is integral to batteries, and the industrialist mentioned he wished to fabricate electrical vehicles, reviving a mission the corporate began in 2017 however did not progress.