By Neha Dasgupta and Chris Thomas

NEW DELHI/BENGALURU (Reuters) - Four unidentified men attacked the chief of India's largest state-owned steel firm, Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL), with iron bars as he was driving home in a violent assault that he said on Thursday appeared linked to business dealings.

Anil Kumar Chaudhary, 58, had left work on Wednesday night in New Delhi when his car was hit by another vehicle occupied by four people, the company said in a statement.

The men attacked his head, neck and legs, the company said, calling it a "murderous assault".

Chaudhary, who was discharged from hospital after treatment, said he suspected people from companies that had previously done business with the state firm were behind the attack.

"Maybe some people who are not happy, or who were earlier were able to do business with the company now they are finding it difficult to do. I find this has been done by some of them," he said.

Police had detained two of the suspected assailants, SAIL said. The company has registered a police case and investigations were underway, Chaudhary said.Police officials at New Delhi's Hauz Khas station, where the complaint was filed, did not immediately comment.

SAIL turned profitable in 2018/19 after three consecutive years of losses, which a company executive said was due to Chaudhary's initiatives to clean up the books.

(Reporting by Neha Dasgupta in New Delhi and Chris Thomas in Bengaluru; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani and David Evans)