On India’s polo fields, Naveen Jindal is not just a billionaire patron of the sport. To his teammates, the chair of Jindal Steel is “Captain Cool”, as well as a sharpshooter casting himself as a “sporting chief, commanding the field with precision and pride”.
Off field, the flamboyant 55-year-old tycoon is making equally grand plays in business. Last week, Jindal made an offer for the floundering steel assets of German industrial group Thyssenkrupp.
The bid value was undisclosed but Jindal pledged to invest more than €2bn and put himself in direct competition with Czech billionaire Daniel Křetínský, who last year acquired a 20 per cent stake with the potential to buy another 30 per cent.