SHARP SCREENS THE SP § Traian CHINESE oy OF AFRICA BUMPING ALO! The Best Big Public Companies US; China’s A ug g SCR emerging peeCitizen Tycoon Handed a lemon of a factory at age 22, Naveen Jindal made lemonade. Now he’s got Asia's hottest play in steel and power. By Naazneen Karmali ssa business school student at the University of “Texas at Dallas, Nawen findal noticed how his American. pals flaunted their country's flag, Inspired, he got himself an Indian fag for his [dorm room. On returning home in L992 and put to workinthe family’s steel empire. Naveen ordered the national lag to be flown af the small, moneylosing factory that he was looking athe in eastern Ind, But thnee years later a bureaucrat who visited the plant directel the police to take the flag dawn. ft tured out the Flag Cade of India ‘anntd private citizens from displaying the national hag exp on special occasions Incense by the archaic restriction, which e felt impinged on the fundamental right of free speech, Naveen, then all .f 25, phar into ne-yo legal battle with the goeriic ni It ended in 2004 when Indias Supreme Court ruled in his favor and the Fag Code was amended. Teday Indians can display the orange-white-green. of their tr «olor even on T-shirts, declares Naveen, whos now a youthful 39 and _utwiceelected member of parliament, He sports an Indian Hag pin ‘ois jacket. His run-in with the government inspired him to run, foroiice in 2004.3: a member ofthe Indian National Congress, which heads the current ling coalition “I had to do-my bit to make the country of my dreams says Newer explaining what motivated him. ‘Hes brought the same sense of purpose to making the company of his dreams. He transformed his struggling factory. which was ‘once vonsidred the black sheep of the Frill busines, into finds Steel Power, Indisé most valuable steel producer after state-owned SAIL Tes worth more than the much bigger Tata Stee. though in dla annual capacity is only 3 nil Wis sus Tatas 30 milion, its market cap is $118 billion, compared with Tatas $9 billion Its obvious winy investors prefer finda. In the past eight years, note analysts at Deutsche Bank. it has been a star performer, son Ssently ceporting operating margins of more than 40% In the fis cal year ended in March, net income rose 85% to $585 milion and evenve was up'53% to $2 bilion, The standout performance eared the company a spot on the Fab 50 for the first time. Tata has also performed very well ver the past several years-—just not as well as Jindal—and makes the Fab $0 for the third year in a rom, Tindal was able to weather the economic downturn, say analysts, pardy because it species in Jong steel products—ralls and H bbeams—that are used in construction andremain in demand as india continues to build infrastructure. An it sells entirely in its hone market, shielding it from the deep shump in stel demand én much of the rest ofthe world. Stel demand in India was lat last year, but Ne blowhard: "We have no aspirations to be number one Ws more Important fe be profitable and efficient than big” sys Nawcen Soda