Tata Steel is not changing its position on its plans for thousands of job losses, mostly in Port Talbot, First Minister Vaughan Gething has said.
After meeting senior executives in Mumbai, Mr Gething said the āonly way to shift their position realistically is if there was a different UK governmentā.
But the Welsh Conservatives said that while UK Tory ministers āput over half a billion pounds on the tableā to save jobs āthe only cash the Labour Welsh government has spent is on this trip to Indiaā.
Tata announced 2,800 UK job cuts in January, along with the closure of both blast furnaces in Port Talbot, as part of a transition to greener steelmaking.
The two furnaces are due to close by September, with construction due to begin on a new electric furnace, which will use recycled steel, in the summer of 2025.
With predictions a general election could take place in October or November, or even as late as January next year, Mr Gething said the poll might be too late for any changes to be made to Tataās plans.
Mr Gething said he told Tata that UK Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer was most likely to be the next prime minister and āmade clear there is a different future available on capital investmentā.
But he said āwe wonāt see a shiftā on Tataās plans āthis side of a general electionā, which he said āmay come too lateā.
āAll of the work might already have been done to decommission that final blast furnace.
He said it was his ādutyā as first minister to āgo out and fight for thousands of jobs directly within the steelworksā and avoid compulsory redundancies at Tata.
āHow can I sit at home?ā
UK government ministers said they were supporting the steel industry with āone of the biggest support packages in historyā, including a Ā£500m grant, as it moves to greener production.
Tory Senedd group leader Andrew RT Davies said: āWhile the UK government has put over half a billion pounds on the table to save steel jobs in Port Talbot, the only cash the Labour Welsh Government has spent is on this trip to India.
āVaughan Gething should stop globetrotting to divert from his domestic problems and measure his support for our steelworkers in pounds and pence.ā
Mr Gething rejected the suggestion his trip to India was āposturingā because of criticism at home over controversial donations to his recent Welsh Labour leadership campaign.
āHow can I sit at home and not be here in Mumbai, fighting for thousands of workersā jobs?ā he said.
āIām doing the right thing for my country, and proud to do so.
āItās more important to me that I do the right thing than worry about people from the sidelines.ā
Tata chief executive TV Narendran described Fridayās meeting as a āproductive discussion with the new first minister of Wales about progressing our plans to secure the future of steelmaking in south Walesā.
He said the new electric arc furnace in Port Talbot would āhelp safeguard steel sovereignty in Britain, preserve 5,000 jobs, support our customers, and reduce CO2 emissions by five million tonnes each yearā.
Mr Narendran said support, including mental health, was being offered to workers along with the āmost generous financial support package ever offered to outgoing employeesā.
āTata Steel has always been a responsible, long-term and patient investor in its UK business, and we are committing significant additional capital to ensure that we can create an operationally, financially and environmentally sustainable business for the future,ā he added.
The GMB union called Tataās latest redundancy offer āstate sponsored decimation of a communityā.
On Thursday, it was announced that members of the largest steelworkersā union, Community, had voted in favour of industrial action over the restructuring.