The Essar Group was established by Mr. Shashi Ruia and Mr. Ravi Ruia in 1969, in South India. The company began its operations with the construction of an outer breakwater in Chennai port, an order worth Rs 2.5 crore. Until then, only foreign construction companies would undertake a project of this magnitude and complexity. However, Essar’s chosen policy was to get into areas of import substitution, high technology and national importance.
In 1969, Shashi and Ravi Ruia founded the Essar Group.
Shashi Ruia, a first-generation entrepreneur industrialist, has made invaluable contributions to the core industrial and infrastructure sectors in India and has steered Essar to a prominent position in the global industry.
Ravi Ruia belongs to the generation of industrialists who have played a significant role in leading India’s industrial renaissance. An engineer by training, his entrepreneurial abilities have enabled the Essar Global portfolio of companies to become one of the leading names in global industry.
The Ruia family is the founding Family of Essar which includes Mr Shashi Ruia and Mr Ravi Ruia, and their children Mr Prashant Ruia, Mr Anshuman Ruia, Ms Smiti Kanodia and Mr Rewant Ruia. Essar operates as the Essar Global Fund Limited which invests in building and nurturing assets, and creating value in the core sectors of Energy, Infrastructure, Metals & Mining and Technology & Retail. Essar Capital Limited (“Essar Capital”) is the investment manager of Essar Global Fund Limited (“EGFL”). It monitors and manages the entire portfolio of investments owned by EGFL, and is governed by its board of directors.
Essar Global Fund Limited (EGFL) is a global investor which owns a number of world-class assets diversified across the core sectors of energy (comprising energy transition, stanlow terminals, exploration and production, refining and marketing), infrastructure and & logistics (comprising ports, power and projects), metals and mining (comprising pellets, green flat steel, mining), technology and retail (comprising technology solutions and digital retail platforms).
The name Essar was derived from SR (S plus R sounds like Essar), which stands for Sashi and Ravi, the Ruia brothers. Sashi and Ravi Ruia are the founders of Essar Group, which is an Indian multinational corporation headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.
Essar is a multinational company with operations in a variety of industries, including energy, infrastructure, logistics, metals, mining, manufacturing, tech & retail. The company is headquartered in Mumbai, India, and invests in core economy sectors. Following are few of Essar’s companies:
EET: Essar Energy Transition (EET) focuses its investments on hydrogen, decarbonisation, new energy infrastructure and biofuels, creating a fully integrated energy transition hub at Stanlow, United Kingdom.
EET Fuels: EET Fuels is a leading oil refinery in the United Kingdom. The 10 MTPA refinery caters to 16% of the UK’s road transport fuel demand. The company also operates a network of fuel stations in the UK and is poised to be one of the first low-carbon refineries in the world (Under EET initiative).
EET Hydrogen: Part of Essar Energy Transition (EET) initiative of Essar, EET Hydrogen is a leading provider of hydrogen solutions in the UK.
Stanlow Terminals: Stanlow Terminals is the UK’s largest independent bulk-liquid storage terminal, with over 3 million cbm of capacity across fuel types. Transitioning to new age sustainable fuel storage, Stanlow Terminals is also a key company within EET.
EEPL: Essar Exploration and Production Limited (EEPL). Its commitment to greener fuels such as coal bed methane has seen it become the first Indian E&P company to achieve over 1 MMSCMD of production. Its is key player in conventional and unconvetional hydrocarbons, with immense shale gas potential. It’s assets span India and Vietnam.
Ultra Gas & Energy: As a green-tech company Ultra Gas and Energy aims to catalyse adoption of clean fuels like LNG, Biofuels, Hydrogen & Electric. The company is disrupting clean energy marketing and distribution in India by building a pan-India network of Green Fuel Hubs that will provide closest access to a wide variety of clean fuels to both, industries & transport sector.
GreenLine: GreenLine, established in 2021, is at the forefront of providing innovative clean fuel logistics solutions. Its primary focus is on delivering Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) and Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) to industries located in off-gas-grid areas. GreenLine is pioneering smart, green mobility in India, enabling corporates to decarbonise their freight transportation through a GreenLine’s fleet of LNG powered trucks.
Essar Ports: Essar Ports specialises in the development and operations of ports and terminals. They handle liquid, dry bulk, break bulk and general cargo. The company has invested US$ 1,500 mn+ in creating 168 MTPA Port capacity both the east and west coasts of India. At Salaya, India, the company operates 20 million metric tons per annum (MTPA) terminal. It now plans to do Cargo diversification to LNG, Liquid including Ammonia & containers.
GreenLine: GreenLine, established in 2021, is at the forefront of providing innovative clean fuel logistics solutions. Its primary focus is on delivering Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) and Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) to industries located in off-gas-grid areas. GreenLine is pioneering smart, green mobility in India, enabling corporates to decarbonise their freight transportation through a GreenLine’s fleet of LNG powered trucks.
Essar Power: As one of the pioneering private entities in the sector, Essar Power generates 1,285 MW of power through its plants situated in both India and Canada
Essar Projects: Continuing to advance the Essar vision of fostering comprehensive and impactful growth, Essar Projects has been at the forefront of providing innovative, large-scale engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) solutions. With its value-driven approach, Essar Projects brings a unique owner’s perspective to project delivery. With expertise in diverse sectors, Essar Projects operates across India, Middle East, Europe, Sount-East Asia, Americas and some challenging geographies in Africa and Australasia.
KSA – Flat Steel: Situated in Ras-Al-Khair, Saudi Arabia, KSA Flat Steel complex will be a state-of-the-art integrated steel plant with 4 million metric tons per annum (MTPA) production capacity. The intergrated facility will be connected to a port facility and will be future-ready to manufacture green steel.
Essar Minmet: Essar Minmet is a 14-MTPA Iron Ore Pellet project in Odisha, India, which will cater to the rising steel demand. With a vision to produce environmentally compliant pellets, Minmet will deliver high quality pellets of DR and BF grade. In line with Essar’s ESG-centric policy, the facility will use state-of-the-art environment-friendly technology to ensure low carbon emission. Slurry pipeline, return water line, etc will also be installed to contribute to environment protection and conservation.
Mesabi Metallics: Mesabi Metallics Company LLC (MMCL), with 1.7 Bn tonnes resources, is setting up a world-class, fully integrated 7 MTPA DR grade iron ore pellet-making and beneficiation facility in Nashwauk, Minnesota.
PT MBL: PT MBL is a high grade thermal coal mine located in the rich coal belt region of East Kalimantan, Indonesia. With quality upwards of 5800 Kcal/Kg (sold at premium New Castle Index), it has a reserve base of 72 million tonnes of proven reserves, and another 15-20 million tonnes expected as upside.
Black Box: Black Box has established itself as a rapidly expanding global provider of digitalization and technology solutions. With a presence in over 35 countries, the company serves a prestigious clientele of over 8,000 clients, including more than 250 Fortune 500 companies.
Litmus: Litmus embodies Essar’s vision of digitally transforming infrastructure to enhance people’s lives. Powered by a proprietary framework focused on measurement, action, and improvement, Litmus is rapidly becoming a benchmark in driving customer experience (CX) transformation.
Pluckk: Pluckk is digital platform with a 24-hour farm-to-fork model offering assortment of 20+ categories and 300+ products ranging across fruits, vegetables, organics, hydrophonics and meal kits. Serving Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru presently, the company plans to expand to 15 cities pan India. It is the only FnV brand to ve certified ‘Plastic Neutral’ in India.
Essar Shipping: Essar Shipping has played a pivotal role in the initial stages of Essar’s journey, contributing to the company’s rich legacy. With a remarkable four decades of experience in owning and operating maritime assets, this Indian private sector shipping company has successfully managed operations on a significant scale.
Essar 2.0 represents Essar’s efforts to reposition its portfolio of businesses by transitioning existing asset to green, while investing in sector-transforming clean businesses in core economy sectors. The new-age investments of Essar are being made under the ESG-oriented themes of Decarbonisation, Decentralisation and Digitalisation.
Speareading Essar2.0 are businesses like Essar Energy Transition (EET), that pans investments in EET Fuels, EET Hydrogen, Stanlow Terminals and Biofuels, and will focus on hydrogen/ammonia/biofuels-led decarbonisation efforts. CBM, LNG and Green Steel ecosystems are being invested in through Essar Exploration & Production Limited, Ultra Gas & Energy, GreenLine, KSA Flat Steel, Essar Minmet, Essar Ports and Essar Power.
Essar 2.0 will showcase a much-transformed portfolio of new-age Essar Businesses that will be future-ready, sustainable, ESG-centric and will create value for all stakeholders for the next several decades.
Essar is fully dedicated to revolutionizing the sector by shifting from carbon-based to clean energy sources across all our current and future endeavors. We place great emphasis on the transition to clean energy and are committed to supporting decarbonasation targets of Nations. Our focus extends to exploring opportunities in hydrogen, solar, wind, biofuels, CBM, natural gas, green logistics, and green steel, where we leverage state-of-the-art technologies to enhance energy efficiency and reduce our carbon footprint. Our future plans entail buidling world-class infra and integrated ecosystems for providing Hydrogen, Green Steel and Green Mobility to the world. We closely monitor advancements in energy storage and transmission to ensure reliable energy access for our valued customers. Essar is thrilled to be part of this transformative journey towards a sustainable future.
Essar concentrates its investments in four core economy sectors. In the Energy sector, its investments comprise Essar Energy Transition (EET Fuels, EET Hydrogen, Stanlow Terminals, Biofuels), and Essar Exploration & Production. Essar’s portfolio in Infrastructure and logistics includes Essar Ports, Essar Projects, Essar Power and Ultra Gas & Energy. In Metals & Mining, Essar is involved in the development of Mesabi Metallics, PT MBL, Essar Minmet, and KSA – Green Flat Steel Complex. The fourth portfolio of Essar consists of Technology & Retail, encompassing Black Box (Formerly AGC Networks Ltd.), LitmusWorld, Essar Shipping and Pluckk.
Founded in 1969 by Shashi Ruia and Ravi Ruia, Essar bgean its activities by constructing an outer breakwater in Chennai port (an order worth Rs. 2.5 Crores). Swiftly seizing emerging business prospects, it achieved a significant milestone by becoming the inaugural private company in India to purchase a tanker in 1976.
In the early years, Essar focused on the construction and engineering sector. The company built a number of major infrastructure projects, including bridges, dams, and power plants. In the 1980s, Essar diversified into the energy sector, with the acquisition of a number of oil and gas assets.
In the 1990s, Essar expanded its operations into the steel and telecommunications sectors. The company built steel plant and acquired telecom companies. In the 2000s, Essar continued to expand its operations, with investments in the shipping, mining, and power sectors.
Today, Essar has operations in a variety of industries, including energy, infrastructure, metals & mining and technology & retail. The company is headquartered in Mumbai, India, and has a workforce of over 7,000 people.
Essar has been a major contributor to the Indian economy. The company has invested billions of dollars in India, and has created thousands of jobs. Essar has also been a major supporter of social and economic development in India. The company has donated millions of dollars to education, healthcare, and other community development initiatives.
We believe in investing in world-class sustainable Infrastructure that will benefit communities and the
environment. We are committed to renewable energy projects, energy efficiency measures, and water conservation initiatives.
We believe in ensuring robust and transparent Governance. We have a strong code of ethics and a whistleblowing policy in place. We also publish regular reports on our sustainability performance.
We believe in protecting our Environment & Finite Resources. We are reducing our greenhouse gas emissions, improving our water efficiency, and recycling and reusing materials.
We believe in offering access to qualitative health & wellbeing. We are supporting initiatives to improve maternal and child health, provide access to clean water and sanitation, and fight malnutrition.
We believe in fostering inclusion for Women and Marginalised Communities. We are promoting gender equality, providing opportunities for education and employment, and supporting initiatives to protect the rights of marginalized communities.
We believe in aiding resilient Livelihoods & Entrepreneurship. We are providing training and financial assistance to help people start their own businesses, and we are supporting initiatives to promote sustainable agriculture and fisheries.
We believe in facilitating equal access to Literacy and Education. We are supporting initiatives to build schools and provide scholarships, and we are working to improve the quality of education.
With Environment, Social and Governance at the core, Essar follows sustainable practices in all aspects of business to create a better tomorrow.
Essar’s Sustainable Business Investments: With its investment themes around decarbonisation, decentralisation and digititalisation, we aim to help the world’s effort towards achieving a net carbon zero dream. Essar is in a phase where it is transitioning its existing business by imbibing greener operations and alternative, and is investing in businesses that would transform the entire sector reality to clean and sustainable energy/logistics/etc. Its new investments in renewables, biofuels, hydrogen, clean-fuel logistics, green steel, etc showcase a determined approach towards creating sustainable businesses.
Sustainability through Health & Safety: We work towards institutionalizing a culture of safety across sites. All our operational sites have dedicated HSE (health, safety & environment) teams led by senior executives who are responsible for safety reporting, training, and compliance at their respective sites.
Community Initiatives: As a global organisation, Essar strives to conduct all its activities in a socially responsible and sustainable way. We aim to bring about holistic development and empower communities through initiatives around environment conservation, livelihood creation, awareness programmes, inclusivity, and improving health and education.
Employee engagement: Essarites are the soul of Essar and our strongest assets. Through employee-centric policies at company level, business level and site level, we ensure that our diverse and global workforce stays motivated and aligned to the brand’s vision.
Sustainability through Health & Safety: We work towards institutionalizing a culture of safety across sites. All our operational sites have dedicated HSE (health, safety & environment) teams led by senior executives who are responsible for safety reporting, training, and compliance at their respective sites.
As a Global entity, Essar is committed to carrying out all of its operations in a socially responsible and sustainable manner. Essar Foundation’s interventions encompass both the individuals it collaborates with and those it serves. Therefore, the vision revolves around comprehensive development with a focus on human development. While emphasising environmental conservation, capacity building, awareness creation, and enhancements in health and education, Essar Foundation works at the grass root to achieve empowerment, livelioods, healthcare and a sustainable future.
Under Essar Energy Transition (EET), Essar plans to invest US $3.6 billion in the UK and India over the next five years. The investment will be used to develop a range of low-carbon energy transition projects, that includes:
1. Decarbonisation of EET Fuels, which represents the refining and marketing arm of the company situated in Stanlow, North West England.
2. Building EET Hydrogen, a company that is actively involved in the development of 1 gigawatt (GW) of blue hydrogen specifically for the UK market, with plans to expand its capacity to reach an impressive 3.8 GW in the future.
3. Creating EET Hydrogen India, which is currently engaged in the development of 1 gigawatt (GW) of green ammonia in India, with a focus on catering to the UK and international markets.
4. Expansion of Stanlow Terminals Ltd, which is actively involved in the development of essential storage and pipeline infrastructure.
5. EET Biofuels, which is making significant investments in the development of 1 million metric tons (MT) of low carbon biofuels.
Prashant is part of the second generation of the Ruia family that founded Essar. Essar was founded in 1969 by his father, Shashi Ruia and uncle Ravi Ruia.
Prashant has been an integral part of EGFL’s operations and management since 1985 and has been a key driver of the Fund’s growth, diversification and value creation both within India and internationally. He is respected for his project execution skills, financial expertise and people management capabilities.
Prashant holds key positions on several prestigious regulatory and professional boards. He is a member of the UK India Business Council and a member of the India-Indonesia CEO’s Forum.
Rewant Ruia is a scion of the Ruia family, the founding family of Essar. As a seasoned entrepreneur, he has considerable knowledge and experience in the oil & gas, refining, metals & mining, and retail sectors. His global exposure, fresh perspectives and arc of activities have contributed to Essar’s strategy and operations.
Rewant has been steering the Group’s expansion in overseas markets. He has been involved in identifying and investing in new business opportunities for the group, especially in steel and metals & mining space. Rewant is currently focused on Essar’s greenfield expansion and evaluating acquisition opportunities in core economy sectors.
Frequently traveling between New York, London, Middle East and Mumbai, his deep understanding of global markets helps drive the strategy of Essar’s Metals & Mining operations in United States, Oil & Gas Business in UK, and Green Steel investment plans in the Saudi Arabia.
An MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business, Rewant aspires to transition the organization from old economy assets to ESG compliant new age sustainable businesses. With a vision to drive Essar’s next phase of growth, Rewant believes in evolving the organizational design through the use of technology, and focusing on streamlining workflows, people systems and processes.
While staying focused on financial and operational transformation of businesses, Rewant likes building relationships, working with teams and making workforce a priority. He is passionate about automobiles, sailing and art.
Shashi Ruia, a visionary first-generation entrepreneur and industrialist, has left an indelible mark on India’s core industrial and infrastructure sectors. Through his exceptional leadership, Essar has risen to a prominent position within the global industry.
Shashi Ruia commenced his professional journey in the family business in 1965, mentored by his late father, Nand Kishore Ruia. Alongside his brother Ravi, Shashi Ruia laid the cornerstone of Essar, playing a pivotal role in shaping its business strategy, fostering diversification, and driving remarkable growth.
Ravi Ruia is a distinguished member of the generation of industrialists who have played a vital role in spearheading India’s industrial renaissance. With a background in engineering, his entrepreneurial prowess has propelled the Essar Global portfolio of companies to achieve unparalleled recognition in the global industry.
He embarked on his professional journey within the family business, collaborating closely with his elder brother, Shashi Ruia, in steering the company towards its present esteemed position.
Ravi Ruia oversees Essar’s globalization plans, including new ventures in the United States, Africa, South East Asia and the Middle East, and has led several investments and divestments for Essar globally.
As Director of Essar Capital, the investment manager of Essar Global Fund, Prashant Ruia manages most of Essar’s portfolio of businesses. He is the eldest son of Shashi Ruia, the founder of the Essar Group. Prashant Ruia has been with the Essar Group since 1989 and has held a variety of positions.
Copyright © 2024 Essar. All rights reserved.
User