Manoj Jayaswal: Big contracts,big contacts and still a big mystery

The meteoric rise of Manoj Jayaswal,57,had raised eyebrows even before his name came up in the coal block allocation affair

The meteoric rise of Manoj Jayaswal,57,had raised eyebrows even before his name came up in the coal block allocation affair. The Abhijeet group he floated was bagging road contracts,announcing power and steel projects and multi-billion-dollar coal supply deals and even proposing an initial public offering.

Manoj,second son of Basant Lall Shaw who founded the Neco Group,went on his own after a family dispute a few years ago. The familys flagship Jayaswal Neco Ltd is headed by his father Shaw and brothers Arbind and Ramesh. Nagpur-based Manoj held a high profile in political circles but kept away from Mumbais corporate spotlight.

The Abhijeet groups website speaks volumes about his political contacts. It has pictures of Manoj rubbing shoulders with Sonia Gandhi,Nitin Gadkari,Pranab Mukherjee,Prithviraj Chavan,Praful Patel,Pratibha Patel,L K Advani and Nitin Gadkari.

However,for India Incs top honchos,the Abhijeet group and its promoter are still a mystery. I dont know Mr Manoj Jayaswal. I dont know what he has done in the power and mining sectors so far. His $7-billion deal with US-based FJS Energy for coal supply to fire its steel and power units in India appeared suspicious, said a Mumbai-based steel and power baron.

What has come as a surprise is that the Jayaswals were allotted 10 coal blocks. Even more surprising is that one firm allotted blocks,AMR,is jointly owned by Manoj and his two estranged brothers,with the CBI saying that the Dardas too owned a stake.

After the split was formalised through a court order,Manoj entered power,road and mining. Abhijeet Power,the flagship,submitted a draft offer document to raise Rs 1,375 crore from the public. Abhijeet is an unlisted entity. He wanted to raise money and expand his power business. But the IPO plan remained on paper, said an investment banker.

The biggest mystery is the source of funds for Manojs plans in infrastructure. His three power projects listed in a Sebi draft prospectus entailed an investment of Rs 13,482 crore. The Abhijeet group was raided by the income-tax department,which suspected possible cooking up of accounts to show the movement of a huge amount of funds.

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Manojs association with the Dardas is evident from the 2.09 per cent stake each that Vijay Darda and Jawaharlal Darda hold in Jas Toll Road Company Limited,as mentioned in the offer document of Abhijeet Power. IDFC invested Rs 65.6 crore in the equity of Jas that runs a 32km section of NH-4 near Bangalore.

He has a finger in the cement pie too,but the status of these projects is unclear. The groups website cites a vision of setting up of pithead-based thermal power stations of 5000MW in Jharkhand,Maharashtra,Bengal and Bihar,and 10 MTPA in integrated steel plants,and is set to become the largest manganese alloy producer of the country by setting up an export-based 180MVA facility at Vizag. All this remains on paper.

FINGER IN EVERY PIE

Power

MIHAN Power Project,

being developed by Abhijeet MADC Nagpur Energy Pvt Ltd near Khaire Khurd village,Nagpur district. Capacity 271.6MW.

Chandwa Project,being developed by Corporate Power Limited (a joint venture in which group has 48.99% equity) in Latehar,Jharkhand. Capacity 1,080MW.

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Banka Project,being developed by Jas Infrastructure and Power Ltd in Banka district,Bihar,with a capacity of 1,320MW. Abhijeet group holds 94.40% of the outstanding equity interest of JIPL.

Cement

Will set up 3mn tonnes/annum clinkerisation plant in Chandrapur,1MTPA grinding unit in Nagpur,2.5MTPA clinkerisation plant in Satna,1.5MTPA grinding unit in Latehar,Jharkhand.

Roads

Built 32.5 km of a section of NH-4,part of golden quadrilateral. Emerged the successful bidder and been issued the letter of award for the four-laning of a 40.5km section of NH-33.