Steel tycoon wants to save 4,000 jobs at Tata’s UK ops

LONDON: UK-based Indian steel tycoon Sanjeev Gupta says he is committed to saving the 4,000-odd jobs at the troubled Tata Steel’s Port Talbot plants, which are Britain’s largest, but has warned that the country’s steel crisis will not abate any time soon.
The 44-year-old founder and chief of Liberty House Group, who evinced interest in acquiring the steelworks in Wales, has held a series of high-level discussions, including with UK business secretary Sajid Javid, to explore its viability.
In an interview, he said that the thought of nearly 4,000 jobs on the line are always on his mind. He said, “There has been a lot of pressure and my number of sleeping hours has definitely gone down. It’s a difficult moment and whether we go ahead or not, that crunch time will come in the next few weeks. If heavy job losses comes out to be the price to pay, we would not be the ones undertaking that exercise. We will undertake this exercise if we can sustain jobs, which we feel is possible at this stage.”
His comments come ahead of the formal process for the sale of Tata Steel’s UK units which is set to kick off on Monday, when the Indian steel giant is expected to invite buyers. Gupta admits the crisis in the industry is set to get worse before it gets better due to excess steel capacity around the world but remains optimistic of its turnaround.
Britain has pressed China to speed up its efforts to cut down steel production amid concerns that Chinese steelmakers are dumping excess on the global market.