Parth Jindal: Giving India a sporting chance

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Also read: Deepak Dhar of Banijay: Bigg Boss of entertainment in India After gaining experience at a hedge fund in New York and at a partner of JSW Steel in Japan, Jindal decided to learn the tricks of the trade at JSW Group. All along, he was clear that he wanted to build businesses and create his own legacy, much like his grandfather and father had in the past. And quite unknowingly, his first assignment handed him a brainwave that pushed him in the direction of sports.

“We wanted to understand why Tata commanded such a huge premium price in the steel market. When I posed as a mystery customer, I realised that their branding was just so strong. It was the same when it came to cement and the Birlas," he says.

“And then it struck me—what if sports could be a medium to build JSW’s image? On one hand, we would be doing genuine work for the country and once India’s sporting success was associated with JSW, there couldn’t be anything bigger for the brand," he says. That moment laid the foundation for JSW Sports in 2012. They started out with the Sports Excellence Program (SEP) to support Olympic disciplines.

A few months later, the besotted Arsenal fan extended his passion for football when he landed the opportunity to launch Bengaluru Football Club. But over lunch with tennis legend Mahesh Bhupathi a few years earlier, he came to realise what India really needed—top-notch infrastructure to groom young athletes and ready them to take on the best in the world. He now sought stakeholders to partake in his vision.

It was easier said than done. It started with his father, who believed building such infrastructure was best left to the government. Jindal convinced him by pointing out the top facilities at the schools he had