Sajjan Jindal’s JSW Group is consolidating the distribution and sales of the cement and steel businesses under one umbrella to reach a wider audience. The new venture, christened JSW One, is starting from the East and the first hub of the business has come up at Salboni, Bengal.
JSW, a leading producer of steel in the country but a relative new entrant in cement, will offer distributors of each product a chance to sell the other. This will expand the reach of JSW products and create a larger market for the group.
For instance, there are 3,800 selling counters in the East for cement and 1,100 for steel which goes into construction (TMT rebar or roofing sheets). However, only 110 such counters sell both steel and cement together even though customers often buy both together.
Commenting on the initiative, Parth Jindal, managing director of JSW Cement, said: “Our customers need TMT rebars, cement and steel roofs to construct their houses as well as paint to beautify their homes. JSW Group is the only conglomerate globally which can offer steel, cement and paints as a comprehensive offering to our customers.”
Initially, the group will focus only on steel and cement as paints is at a nascent stage. Being produced from Vijaynagar in Karnataka, it is only available in the southern and western markets. Once paints are rolled out nationally in 2-3 years and JSW One steps out of the east, all three products will be sold by a common distribution and retail channel.
Surjayan Mukherjee, vice- president of sales & marketing of JSW Cement, said JSW One is expecting a business of Rs 2,300 crore this year and sale of TMT rebar in the east can jump more than three times of 250,000 tonne.
“We will bring the rebars from Vijaynagar and Monnet Ispat plant to Salboni, where a 2.4 million tonne grinding unit is already there, to service eastern markets under JSW One,” Mukherjee explained.
JSW Cement is expanding the plant at Salboni, where originally an integrated steel plant was to come up to 3 MT by debottlenecking exercise.