Corporate Grapevine     

Published: May 15, 2025
Updated: May 15, 2025

Jindal ties up AkzoNobel deal

Even as the Supreme Court dealt a severe blow to the JSW group by ordering the liquidation of Bhushan Power and Steel — a company it had long sought to rescue — Sajjan Jindal’s empire is charging ahead on another front. The group is poised to acquire AkzoNobel India from its Dutch parent in a deal re portedly valued at Rs 12,000 crore ($ 1.4 bn).

The acquisition, led by Parth Jindal, son of the patriarch and heir-apparent, marks an audacious foray into India’s competitive paints industry. Long domi nated by Asian Paints and recently jolted by the entry of the Aditya Birla group, the sector is attracting a new generation of industrialists eager to shake things up.

Parth, who oversees JSW’s ventures in cement and electric vehicles, and will now add paints to his brief, has emerged as the group’s most energetic and ambitious face. While the Bhushan episode may be a costly mis-step, the younger Jindal appears determined to prove that the group’s future lies in ‘colour’ as much as in steel.