An inherited industrial group
Savitri Jindal's wealth comes from the O.P. Jindal Group, built by her husband, Om Prakash Jindal, from a small pipe making business he started in Hisar, Haryana, in the early 1950s. Over the following decades he moved into steel tubes, then steel making, and set up plants in Haryana, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Karnataka. When he died in a helicopter crash in 2005, control of the group passed to his family, and Savitri Jindal became its chairperson.
The fortune is therefore an inheritance rather than a business she founded. What changed after 2005 is the scale. Under the management of her four sons, each of whom runs a separate part of the group, the companies expanded steel making capacity, built power plants and moved into cement, paints, infrastructure and energy. The family holds controlling stakes in several listed companies, so most of its wealth is tied to the share prices of those businesses.
The separation of the group into distinct companies, each led by a different son, was arranged largely in line with the father's wishes. Savitri Jindal has acted as the figure who holds the family together, while leaving operations to her children.
How the group is divided
The main businesses are associated with individual sons:
- JSW Group, led by Sajjan Jindal, which includes JSW Steel, JSW Energy, JSW Infrastructure, JSW Cement and JSW Paints, along with sports interests
- Jindal Steel and Power, led by Naveen Jindal, with steel and mining operations in India and interests overseas
- Jindal Stainless, chaired by Ratan Jindal, one of the main stainless steel producers in India
- Jindal SAW and related businesses, associated with Prithviraj Jindal, making large diameter pipes and other products
JSW Steel, the largest of these, grew through new plants and acquisitions, including the purchase of the insolvent Bhushan Power and Steel. JSW Energy has been adding renewable power capacity and has moved into electric vehicles through a joint venture.
The family's combined holdings across these listed companies make it one of the most prominent industrial dynasties in India. Savitri Jindal holds shares directly and through family entities, and she has been named chairperson emerita of the group.
From Assam to Haryana
Savitri Jindal was born in 1950 in Tinsukia, in the north-eastern state of Assam. She married Om Prakash Jindal in 1970 and moved to Hisar, the town in Haryana where his business was based. The couple had nine children.
For much of her married life she was not involved in managing the companies. After her husband's death she took on a formal role as chairperson, presiding over a family that had to settle how the businesses would be shared among the sons. The arrangement that emerged left each branch largely independent, with cross holdings and family ties linking them.
She also inherited her husband's political base. Om Prakash Jindal had been a member of the Haryana legislative assembly and of the national parliament, and Hisar remained the family's home town. Savitri Jindal has continued to live there rather than in Delhi or Mumbai.
Politics and charitable work
After her husband's death she entered politics, winning his former seat in the Haryana assembly for the Congress party in 2005 and again in 2009. She served as a minister in the state government, with responsibilities that included urban local bodies and housing. She lost the seat in 2014.
In 2024, after her son Naveen moved from Congress to the Bharatiya Janata Party and won a seat in the national parliament, she stood in the Haryana assembly election in Hisar as an independent candidate and won. She later declared support for the BJP state government, which returned to power after that election.
The family's charitable work is carried out largely through foundations attached to the companies. They fund hospitals, schools and colleges in Hisar and in the areas around the group's plants, as well as programs on health, women's livelihoods and rural development. The family also supports O.P. Jindal Global University in Sonipat, named after her late husband.