Cameron England: Gupta’s history in Wales gives cause for optimism in South Australia

It’s a question for many South Australians have asked — Are Sanjeev Gupta’s promises too good to be true? His history suggests he can make good on them, writes Cameron England.

Sanjeev Gupta tells a story about the only time his father, Parduman raised his hand to him.

A young Sanjeev was frolicking around at one of the family’s steel mills in India, when a worker was injured.

His father, known as PKG, bundled the worker into the family car to take him to hospital. Young Sanjeev wondered aloud about the flash new car getting dirty with the man’s blood. His father was not impressed and gave his young son a slap.

It’s a story from another time, parenting-wise, but it was a lesson which stayed with Sanjeev Gupta. It taught him, he says, that it is people — not money, not things — which count.

“Those are the values that drive (GFG), the concept of family, the concept of togetherness comes from industry,’’ he told a South Australian Chamber of Mines and Energy lunch last year.

Sanjeev Gupta in Whyalla. Picture: Sean Kelly, GFG Alliance

“I believe you always find in an industrial factory you will find the relations between people will be stronger than other workplaces. It’s a bond which has shaped our values in GFG.’’

Easy words from a man born into great wealth, perhaps. But if we are to be judged on our actions, not our words, then Mr Gupta appears, so far, to be a man of honour whose word can be trusted.

Among the biggest questions now facing South Australia is: “Is this guy for real? Will Mr Gupta’s ambitious plans for Whyalla and the rest of the state eventuate?”

The Advertiser posed this question and sought to answer it by looking into what Mr Gupta has done in the past.

As far as his actions in Newport, Wales, and across the UK are concerned, what we have found is cause for confidence.

Newport, similar to Whyalla, was handed a deal which seemed too good to be true. In its case, two years of half pay for workers, in order to keep the skilled workforce in the area while GFG refurbished its steel plant so it could relaunch the business.

It sounds crazy. But Mr Gupta kept his word.

Some businesses were paid a bit late. But almost every worker went back, and the business appears to be flourishing.

In South Australia Mr Gupta has maintained an almost exhausting pace, with a new announcement, at unprecedented scale, seemingly every few months.

People are excited but are still yet to see the concrete fruits of these promises coming to bear. Businesses in Whyalla were paid late — very late. Not good corporate behaviour.

When called out on the practice, the company apologised and promised to do better. It should not have needed to get to that stage, but it’s about the best response you could ask for under the circumstances (as well as a few cheques in the mail).

Naturally, none of us will be truly satisfied until the Whyalla rejuvenation becomes a reality. But Mr Gupta has said it himself: “The proof is in the eating of the pudding”. We don’t quite have that proof yet, but it seems we have ample cause for optimism.