The government has extended safeguard duty on steel imports till March 2018. The move is aimed at protecting the Indian industry from cheap China steel.
The 20 per cent safeguard duty will apply to import of “hot-rolled flat products of non-alloy and other alloy steel in coils of a width of 600 mm or more” till September 13, 2016.
Thereafter, it will drop in a staged manner to 18 per cent between September 14, 2016 and March 13, 2017, 15 per cent from March 14, 2017 to September 13, 2017, and 10 per cent between September 14, 2017 and March 13, 2018.
“GOI is committed to safeguard the interests of all stakeholders in the steel industry. Let's all work together for a stronger India,” Steel Minister Narendra Singh Tomar tweeted following the announcement. China had, in the face of a domestic economic slowdown last year, increased its steel exports, which attracted duties in several markets such as India and the European Union.
A Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) notification said that the Director General (Safeguards), had in September 2015, come to the conclusion that “increased imports of subject goods (steel goods) into India had caused and threatened to cause serious injury to the domestic industry.”
