Who Are Shashi And Ravi Ruia? The Brothers Behind Essar's $18-Billion US Bet

When US President Donald Trump announced a massive new steel project backed by India's Essar Group in the US, the spotlight fell on the company. But behind Essar is a family business story that began more than five decades ago.

At the centre of it were brothers Shashi Ruia and Ravi Ruia.

In 1969, the brothers founded Essar with a relatively modest infrastructure project. The company won a Rs 2.5 crore contract to build an outer breakwater at Chennai port. At the time, projects of that scale were largely handled by foreign construction companies.

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More than five decades later, Essar is back in the headlines with a multibillion-dollar US steel expansion.

The US project is being developed through Essar-backed Mesabi Metallics. Trump has described the proposed Iowa steel mill as one of the largest steel plants in American history. The first phase is expected to produce 7.5 million tonnes of steel a year, eventually rising to around 10 million tonnes. The project is also linked to Essar's iron ore operation in Minnesota. 

So, who are the Ruias who built this business?

Shashi And Ravi Ruia: The Brothers Who Built Essar

Shashi Ruia, the elder brother, was born in 1943 and began his career in the family business in 1965 under his father Nand Kishore Ruia.

Ravi Ruia, an engineer by training, joined him in building Essar. The company's name itself is derived from the initials of the brothers. "S" and "R", pronounced as Essar, became the name of the group. 

The brothers did not remain confined to construction. Essar moved into shipping and bought a tanker in 1976. It then expanded into energy, steel, power, ports and telecommunications. FOLLOW MARKETS LIVE UPDATES

During India's economic liberalisation, the group moved aggressively into sectors that were opening up to private investment. Essar was among the early private players in telecom and later became part of Vodafone's India business. 

That expansion eventually turned Essar into a sprawling conglomerate.

Rewant Ruia (L), Chairman of Mesabi Metallics, speaks next to Ravi Ruia

From Steel And Oil To Telecom And Ports

For years, the Ruias built businesses across capital-intensive sectors. Essar established a steel plant at Hazira in Gujarat. It expanded its oil business around the Vadinar refinery and built port and power infrastructure around it.

It also entered telecom through Vodafone Essar and built Aegis, a major business process outsourcing company.

The strategy was not simply to buy companies and hold them forever. Essar often built businesses, expanded them and eventually sold them.

The group says its telecom, BPO and oil and gas businesses have together generated more than $40 billion in monetisation proceeds through deals with global companies.

One of the biggest examples came in 2017. Essar sold 98.26 per cent of Essar Oil to a consortium involving Russia's Rosneft and Trafigura-UCP for $12.9 billion. The deal covered the 20 million-tonne-a-year Vadinar refinery, the associated port and power infrastructure and a network of more than 3,500 fuel outlets.

The Vodafone exit was another major transaction. Essar monetised its 33 per cent stake in Vodafone Essar for $5.46 billion in 2011. 

Then Came The Debt Crisis

The story, however, was not a straight line upwards. Essar had made huge investments across steel, oil, power and infrastructure. The expansion came with substantial debt.

Essar Steel eventually entered India's insolvency process. In 2018, the Ruia family made a Rs 54,389 crore proposal to settle creditors' claims. The offer was rejected, and ArcelorMittal eventually won the bid for Essar Steel. 

For the Ruias, the following years became a period of selling assets and paying down debt. By 2019, Essar said it had repaid around Rs 1.4 lakh crore of debt. The group had sold assets including Essar Oil and Aegis and used the proceeds to reduce leverage. 

VIDEO | Washington DC: "I heard it is 20," jokes US President Donald Trump as Ravi Ruia, co-founder Essar Group announces $18 billion investment to build America's largest steel plant in Iowa.

(Source: White House YT)

(Full video available on PTI Videos -… pic.twitter.com/DQYIFvu9U2

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) September 29, 2026

The US Was Never Completely New To Essar

The new American steel push may look like a fresh overseas adventure. But the Ruias had already been building a US presence. Essar's Mesabi Metallics project in Minnesota is centred on an iron ore mine and pellet plant.

The company has invested more than $1.8 billion in the project and says the operation is designed to produce 7 million tonnes of direct-reduction-grade iron ore pellets. In September 2026, Mesabi's Minnesota mine began operations. Essar says it is the first new iron ore mine in the US in more than 50 years. 

The latest steel proposal takes that strategy several steps further by linking Minnesota iron ore with steelmaking in Iowa.

Shashi Ruia's Legacy, Ravi Ruia's Global Push

Shashi Ruia died on November 25, 2024, at the age of 81. He left behind a business that had moved from construction and infrastructure into steel, energy, ports, telecom and other sectors.

Ravi Ruia has been closely associated with Essar's international expansion. The group says he oversaw globalisation efforts across the US, Africa, Southeast Asia and the Middle East, as well as several major investments and divestments. 

The next generation of the family is also involved in the business, including Shashi Ruia's son Prashant Ruia and Ravi Ruia's son Rewant Ruia.

Rewant Ruia is chairman of the executive board of Mesabi Metallics and was present alongside Ravi Ruia when Trump announced the latest US investment. 

Shashi Ruia

From A Rs 2.5 Crore Contract To A US Steel Bet

The scale of the transformation is striking. Essar began with a breakwater project at Chennai port worth Rs 2.5 crore.

It went on to build steel plants, refineries, ports and power assets. It entered telecom. It acquired businesses overseas. It then sold several of those assets for billions of dollars, using much of the proceeds to cut debt.

Now, the group is putting steel back at the centre of its global expansion.

As Abhishek Bhilwaria, Partner at BhilwariaFinserv, told NDTV, "From pioneering infrastructure during India's post-liberalisation era to steering an asset-light, multi-billion-dollar global empire, Shashi and Ravi Ruia have long epitomised the bold risk-taking required to build entire economic ecosystems."

He added that their journey has been defined by "a unique ability to continuously transform, deleverage, and reinvest across continents."

The Ruias are not simply returning to steel. They are attempting to build an integrated steel ecosystem in the US, connecting iron ore, pellets and steelmaking. For a family whose business began with building infrastructure at an Indian port, it is another very large chapter in the Essar story.