New Delhi/Mumbai, Feb. 18 -- In December 2024, industrialist Sajjan Jindal declared that steelmaker JSW would soon have its own automobile brand. "Our idea is not to be an outpost of a Chinese company to sell products in India," Jindal told the Financial Times. "We want to manufacture the products in India, value-add in India, and sell them in India."

The declaration came about nine months after the JSW Group had entered the automobile business after forming a joint venture with China-based SAIC Motor, which now owns the British-origin MG brand of vehicles.

Jindal's intention of doubling down on the automobile business will culminate in India getting its first new homegrown carmaker this millennium. But why does a legacy group, whose ca...