Sanjeev Gupta, a possible saviour of the Port Talbot steel works, set up his company Liberty House in his college bedroom in Cambridge.

Workers in the carmaking arm of Indian conglomerate Tata have urged the company to allow enough time to sell its UK steel business as efforts to save thousands of jobs were stepped up.

Members of the Unite union at Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) wrote to Cyrus Mistry, chairman of the Tata Group, warning against a "fire sale" of the loss-making UK assets.

Business Secretary Sajid Javid was tonight flying to Mumbai to meet Mr Mistry to discuss the sales process, exactly a week after the firm took the shock decision to sell up.

The minister held a flurry of talks today with union and steel industry leaders and other ministers, including Carwyn Jones, First Minister of Wales.

The head of a group which could rescue steel plants and save thousands of jobs said he is aiming to avoid any redundancies if a deal is agreed.

Sanjeev Gupta, the head of the Liberty Group, made it clear it was "early days" in the sale process but raised hopes that jobs could be saved, especially at the huge plant in Port Talbot, South Wales.

The 44-year-old was born in Punjab, India, and moved to the UK in his early teens, attending boarding school at St Edmunds College in Canterbury, Kent, whose alumni include actor Orlando Bloom.

While studying economics at Trinity College, Cambridge, Mr Gupta founded Liberty House in 1992, running the firm alongside his degree.

Thrown out of halls for registering the business at the college, breaching the university's charitable status, Mr Gupta switched to a management degree in his final year, graduating with a 2:1.

Liberty House has since evolved into a £4.2 billion business which employs 2,000 people in five sectors - steel, power, energy, financial services and property.

The company has offices in 30 countries with bases in London, Singapore, Hong Kong and Dubai, where Mr Gupta lived with his wife Nicola and young family until last year.

He now lives in a mansion in Chepstow, close to his recently-acquired Newport steel plant.

In 2013, Liberty House acquired Mir Steel (formerly Alphasteel) in Newport, re-starting production last autumn as other steel plants around the country were shut down or sold.

It also owns a stake in Tidal Lagoon Power, the company behind the planned Swansea Bay tidal lagoon, and helped save hundreds of jobs in the takeover of steel firm Caparo in November last year.