NEW DELHI: Indian steelmakers threatened by cheap imports have reasons for hope. The Directorate General of Safeguards has recommended a 20 per cent safeguard duty for 200 days on flat steel products, which constitute around 80 per cent of India’s total steel imports.
The DG Safeguards has concluded that imports of hot rolled flat products have caused “serious injury” to domestic manufacturers.
The specific product under consideration was ‘hot-rolled flat products of non-alloy and other alloy steel in coils of a width of 600mm or more’.
It is understood that at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s high level meeting with industrialists, economists and bankers, Tata Sons Chairman Cyrus P Mistry had raised the issue for a safeguard duty to protect the domestic industry.
“There exist critical circumstances, where any delay in application for provisional safeguard measures would cause damage that would be difficult to repair, necessitating immediate application of a provision safeguard duty for a period of 200 days, pending final determination of serious injury and threat of serious injury,” Vinay Chhabra, DG Safeguards, recommended as part of the preliminary findings.
