<p> An arm of the Finance Ministry has recommended maintaining import duties on some steel products until March 2018, a government document showed on Wednesday, in a move to support the local steel industry and protect mills from cheaper imports.<br /><br /></p>.<p>The government imposed a provisional safeguard import duty for 200 days on some steel products in September 2015 and last month set a floor price on imports to deter countries such as China from undercutting local mills, the first such move in more than 15 years.<br /><br />Steel imports into India, the only major market where steel demand is growing, dropped for a fourth straight month in February. However, companies such as JSW Steel, Tata Steel and Kalyani Steels continued to lobby for more protectionist measures as imports weighed on their margins.<br /><br />The chief of the Directorate General of Safeguards, a division of the finance ministry, said an investigation found that cheap overseas purchases of steel were causing serious injury to India, the world's third-largest steel producer, and the imposition of safeguard duty would be in the public interest. <br /><br />The Director of Safeguards recommended a 20% import tax for hot-rolled flat products of non-alloy and other alloy steel in coils of 600 mm width or more for the first year, minus anti-dumping duty, the document showed.<br /><br />The duty could be lowered every six months after the first year and by March 2018 could be levied at 10% depending on the value of the goods, the director recommended.<br /><br />Such recommendations from the safeguards department are generally accepted by the finance ministry because they come after detailed investigations.</p>
<p> An arm of the Finance Ministry has recommended maintaining import duties on some steel products until March 2018, a government document showed on Wednesday, in a move to support the local steel industry and protect mills from cheaper imports.<br /><br /></p>.<p>The government imposed a provisional safeguard import duty for 200 days on some steel products in September 2015 and last month set a floor price on imports to deter countries such as China from undercutting local mills, the first such move in more than 15 years.<br /><br />Steel imports into India, the only major market where steel demand is growing, dropped for a fourth straight month in February. However, companies such as JSW Steel, Tata Steel and Kalyani Steels continued to lobby for more protectionist measures as imports weighed on their margins.<br /><br />The chief of the Directorate General of Safeguards, a division of the finance ministry, said an investigation found that cheap overseas purchases of steel were causing serious injury to India, the world's third-largest steel producer, and the imposition of safeguard duty would be in the public interest. <br /><br />The Director of Safeguards recommended a 20% import tax for hot-rolled flat products of non-alloy and other alloy steel in coils of 600 mm width or more for the first year, minus anti-dumping duty, the document showed.<br /><br />The duty could be lowered every six months after the first year and by March 2018 could be levied at 10% depending on the value of the goods, the director recommended.<br /><br />Such recommendations from the safeguards department are generally accepted by the finance ministry because they come after detailed investigations.</p>
