Cutting-edge Leadership
The fate of any business rests on its leadership. The one thing common among all successful companies is visionary leadership, work culture, consistent performance and the ability to innovate when market forces demand.
When we talk about successful corporate leaders in India today, Neeraj Kumar, Group Chief Executive Officer and whole-time Director of Jindal Saw, comes across as one for his decisive leadership and ability to deliver value and market numbers.
Over the years, Kumar has been the driving force behind Jindal Saw’s consistent performance. A Master’s in Physics and a postgraduate in Finance & International Finance, Kumar is equipped with a strong analytical ability and conceptual clarity. He is currently managing the entire gamut of operations of Jindal Saw including Indian and off-shore units, subsidiaries and affiliates.
Talking about markets, the focus on domestic turf has been significant for Jindal Saw. The primary reason being that the GCC and the European markets remain a little sluggish because of various reasons. But there is a lot that is happening in the domestic market.
There is another big reason to look at the home market and expect buoyancy.
The new procurement policy which the government has come up with along with the measures taken to stop the dumping of Chinese goods are proving to be positive factors for aggressive domestic growth and newer opportunities.
Also, the new government’s focus on infrastructure primarily through the AMRUT scheme, and various irrigation schemes will open up new opportunity areas.
“We expect Jindal Saw’s performance to be consistent, improve and we would be able to maintain our dominant market position. If you see the last few quarter results, what we have been able to achieve at Jindal Saw as a whole is a consistently high performance and that is a combination of multiple divisions working in tandem”, says Kumar when asked about Jindal Saw’s market performance.
While helming Jindal Saw, Kumar is also leading the company towards a paradigm shift. His past associations in the senior management team in core infrastructure, commodity, service and the financial sectors with large Indian business houses, top multinationals and financial institutions, IL&FS, Essar Group, Tata Lucent Technologies brings a well-rounded and holistic perspective to address business challenges.
Speaking about JSW Saw’s market forecast this year, Kumar adds, “Having witnessed a consistent performance, our effort is to make it stable and to make sure that over the next three to four quarters we have good visibility, and we are able to maintain this momentum.”
He also maintains that the domestic market is witnessing aggressive demand and that would inevitably work in favour of the company given its leadership position in the market.
“In India, the combination of GAIL and ONGC should give us a very healthy demand on account of our increased product range. As far as the MENA region is concerned we are seeing a reconstruction of Iraq, we are also seeing some traction in Saudi and we are opening some new markets for us in Africa. At present we do see a healthy demand, both in domestic and MENA region,” explains Kumar.
