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The steel ministry is likely to take up the issue of duty protection on certain steel products with the finance ministry to safeguard the domestic industry from dumping by China.
Steel minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said on Wednesday that a few steel companies have proposed imposing a higher import duty on certain steel products.This is now being examined and will be discussed with the finance ministry for appropriate action. “There is a concern on rising imports of steel in certain categories by the industry. While this would be examined, the situation was not a big concern as steel imports continues to remain lower,” Scindia told reporters in a briefing on the achievements of his ministry in the nine years of the Narendra Modi government.
As against a production of 122.28 million tonnes of steel in FY23, imports stands at only 6.02 MT while exports stood at 6.72 MT. From being a net importer of steel in FY15 with 9.32 MT of imports against 5.59 MT exports, the country has now become a net exporter.
The steel industry has been demanding an increase in the basic customs duty on steel or levy of an additional safeguard duty on certain products to protect the domestic industry, alleging predatory pricing by overseas steelmakers. It has also sought a 25% safeguard duty on steel imports from countries with which India has a free trade agreement as more than half of the imports come from these countries.
“The imports numbers are very minimal while our domestic market and production itself is growing fast,” Scindia said, adding the policy for providing preference to domestically manufactured iron and steel products in government procurement has resulted in import substitution of about ₹34,800 core.