Jindal Steel Ltd, owned by billionaire Naveen Jindal, has appointed Gautam Malhotra as Chief Executive Officer (CEO), even as the company reported weaker-than-expected second-quarter results for FY26.
Malhotra, who joined the steelmaker in May 2024, has been elevated to the top role effective October 28, according to an exchange filing. Since joining, he has worked across key verticals, including mining, production, HR, logistics, technology, AI adoption, and sales, and has been involved in shaping the company’s commercial and logistics strategy.
A first-time leader from outside the steel industry, Malhotra is the founder of FuelBuddy, a doorstep fuel delivery startup operating in five countries. His appointment marks a leadership transition nearly five years after former CEO Sudhanshu Saraf’s exit in 2020. After Saraf’s departure, Bimlendra Jha served as managing director between 2022 and 2024.
Q2 Performance: Profit and Realizations Decline
For the quarter ended September 2025, Jindal Steel reported a 26% year-on-year (YoY) decline in net profit to ₹638 crore, down from ₹861 crore a year ago. Sequentially, profit fell 58%, missing the Bloomberg consensus estimate of ₹697 crore.
Revenue from operations stood at ₹11,686 crore, down 5% quarter-on-quarter, primarily due to lower steel realizations and weaker volumes. The company’s EBITDA dropped nearly 31% sequentially to ₹2,081 crore, impacted by higher staff and operating expenses despite modest reductions in raw material costs.
Production volumes fell 5% sequentially to 2 million tonnes, while sales volumes declined 2% to 1.87 million tonnes.
Prices of long steel products—used mainly in construction—fell about 14.5% sequentially to ₹48,000 per tonne, sharper than flat product declines, amid a seasonal slowdown and excess supply.
Capacity Expansion at Angul
During the quarter, Jindal Steel commissioned a new blast furnace at its Angul plant, doubling hot metal capacity to 8.85 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) from 4.25 mtpa. The company also started operations of a 3 mtpa basic oxygen furnace, increasing crude steel capacity at Angul to 9 mtpa and total company capacity to 12.6 mtpa.
With both new units operational, Jindal Steel aims to raise its overall capacity to 15.6 mtpa by the end of FY26.
Jindal Steel’s stock ended 3.93% higher ahead of the earnings announcement, even as the Sensex declined 0.18% on the same day.
Industry Context
The September quarter was seasonally weak due to the monsoon-led slowdown in construction activity, which hit demand for long steel products. Peers such as JSW Steel also reported lower quarterly profits, indicating industry-wide pressure from oversupply and softer prices.
