Sajjan Jindal, Suvendu Adhikari discuss Salboni power expansion at Nabanna

JSW Group chairperson Sajjan Jindal met Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari at Nabanna on Wednesday, the first face-to-face meeting between the two since Adhikari took office. Speaking to reporters afterward, the chief minister said the talks covered JSW's next steps in West Bengal, and that Jindal had extended an invitation to a January event.

The headline item is JSW Energy's thermal power project in Salboni, West Midnapore. The company is building a 1,600 MW plant at a cost of Rs 16,000 crore. Two 800 MW units are already in the works, with two more planned, alongside a paint manufacturing facility. According to Adhikari, Jindal told him construction of the second and third units would begin soon, and the foundation stone for the second unit is slated for January. Commercial generation is expected by 2030, and the state's distribution utility, West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company Limited, has agreed to buy the entire output at Rs 5.45 per unit.

Beyond power, the chief minister said Jindal was interested in upgrading Midnapore Medical College and Hospital under the group's corporate social responsibility programme, and in restoring several temples across the state. Officials said the two also explored wider investment possibilities in Bengal. The chief minister noted that Jindal had praised former chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, though he did not mention his successor Mamata Banerjee.

The timing gives the conversation extra weight. The state government is set to unveil its industrial policy on Thursday, so commitments made in the meeting are likely to be read against the framework that will shape future projects. JSW's footprint in the state is already substantial. Its cement grinding unit in Salboni, which started in 2017-18 with an initial Rs 800 crore outlay, has grown from 2.4 MTPA to 3.6 MTPA capacity.

The meeting also fits a broader pattern. Since taking office, Adhikari has been courting large business houses. Adani Group is building a 2,000-bed hospital in New Town at a cost of Rs 4,000 crore, and Gautam Adani has spoken of investing Rs 1 lakh crore in the state. Reliance is reportedly weighing expansion into data centres, AI cloud services and coal gasification after Adhikari met Mukesh Ambani and Anil Ambani at their Mumbai residence in September.

For investors and local residents, the message is that the state is pitching heavy industry, power and social infrastructure as one package. Whether the January milestones hold will be the real test of how much of this momentum turns into steel, cement and megawatts on the ground.

Source: Times of India

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