Steel industry suffering due to duty, says EEPC

Strongly opposing any more extension for a restrictive regime for import of steel, apex engineering export  body EEPC India has said, the minimum import price (MIP) on the crucial inputs is resulting in an inversion of duty with imports of finished goods increasing at a far more rapid speed than raw material.

“Any inversion in duty at this stage would be a big setback to the government’s flagship programme of Make in India where the entire focus is on taking the country several notches up on the value and technology chain so that we become a factory of the world,”  said EEPC India Chirirman T S Bhasin in a statement.

According to an EEPC India analysis, imports for the finished goods in the form of products of steel and iron, measured by  volume   have been increasing in the range of  22.5% to 51%  between June and August this year.

On the other hand, imports for the raw material by way of steel and iron, have been dropping in quantity terms between June and August in the range of 16% to 33%.

“With imports of steel and iron products increasing and raw material in the form of pure play steel and iron dropping, it is a clear case of inverted duty, some thing not good for India’s drive on manufacturing,” the EEPC India .

The Directorate General of Foreign Trade had extended MIP on 66 steel products till October 4. The MIP ranges between $341 to $752 per tonne. The government earlier levied MIP on 173 steel products ranging from $341 to $752 per tonne on February 5, 2016.

 Meanwhile, India has started a probe into alleged dumping of a certain kind of rubber by Korea, Russia, South Africa, Iran and Singapore following a complaint from Reliance Industries. The move is aimed at protecting domestic players in the sector against cheap imports. In a notification, the Directorate General of Anti-Dumping and Allied Duties has said it has found sufficient prima facie evidence of dumping of the product from China.