During the 2024 SelectUSA Summit, considered the highest-profile international investment event in the United States, Indian company JSW Steel announced a $110 million investment in Texas.
On June 24, 2024, India-based JSW Steel (owned by JWS Group, a subsidiary of the O.P. Jindal Group), announced that the company would invest $110 million towards a new facility producing high-grade steel plates in Baytown, Texas. The products of this facility would support the manufacturing of offshore wind infrastructure.
As per initial information, the original plan of $110 million could be expanded up to $500 million once the project receives EPA approval. This development follows the Texas Enterprise Fund’s decision to approve a $3.4 million grant to JSW in 2021. The Texas Enterprise Fund only disburses grants to companies with the potential to contribute “significant capital investment and new employment opportunities to the state economy.”
In his January 2024 trip to New Delhi, Texas Governor Greg Abbott noted that in the last decade, Indian companies invested over $1.4 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI) through 59 projects, creating more than 10,300 good-paying jobs in Texas. Notable Indian companies with FDI in Texas include Tata, HCL, WePro, and InfoSys. According to the Texas Economic Development Corporation, India was Texas’ 11th largest import source country in 2021 with $4.9 billion in imports.
JSW’s Baytown project is a part of the company’s $1 billion investment plan in the United States. In 2018, JSW invested $145 million in a non-operational steel facility in Mingo Junction, Ohio. Today, the Mingo facility is one of the largest corporations in the Ohio Valley, employing over 750 local workers and contributing about $190,000 of real estate tax per year to Jefferson County, Ohio. Operations from the Mingo plant have also attracted downtown investment, increased value for the local housing market, and revitalized the steel industry in the region. As JSW’s product is “melted and manufactured in the US,” the Mingo facility produces steel for defense and federally supported infrastructure projects, per the 2021 Buy America, Build America Act under which imported steel is currently banned. In 2023, the Jefferson County Port Authority, the Ohio Rail Development Commission, and the Jefferson County Commission agreed to issue bonds and grants to help the company purchase new equipment and expand its rail yards.
The anticipated steel plate mill in Baytown, TX will support diverse industrial sectors, including oil and gas platforms, construction, shipbuilding, storage tanks, transportation, machinery and heavy equipment, general fabrication, renewable energy, utility transmission, and distribution towers. Furthermore, JSW steel manufacturing will contribute to the infrastructure needed for the Biden Administration’s goal of deploying 30 gigawatts (GW) offshore wind by 2030.
JSW projects produce crucial materials for US infrastructure and highlight the need for Indian investments in particular US states. Furthermore, they demonstrate how Indo-Pacific Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) can deliver positive results for industrial communities across America.
Sam Tran is a Summer 2024 Young Professional at the East-West Center in Washington. He graduated from the University of Massachusetts Amherst with a B.A. in Political Science in May 2024.