The Hindu Business Line : 10% countervailing duty on steel products mooted

In order to further support the domestic steel industry, the Ministry of Steel has recommended a countervailing duty of 10 per cent to the Ministry of Finance.

Fiscal stimulus

The Government is considering the proposal. This may form a part of the fiscal measures of the second round of stimulus package for the economy.

The Secretary in the Ministry of Steel, Mr P.K. Rastogi, said, “We have recommended a CVD on import of long steel products to the Finance Ministry”.

‘Since the excise duty has been brought down from 14 per cent to 10 per cent now, the proposed countervailing duty is also 10 per cent,” he said.

If accepted, this would be the sixth fiscal measure by the Centre in the past 60 days to help the steel industry.

Earlier move

On October 31, the Government removed export duty on all steel items. Within the next two weeks, on November 14, the Government restored the Duty Exemption Pass Book (DEPB) scheme to encourage the producers to focus on markets abroad.

In the next step, on November 18, the Government imposed a five per cent import duty on steel to check cheap imports from China and other CIS countries following complaints of dumping by the Indian manufacturers.

Demand boost

Then, on November 21, in an unusually strong step, the Government removed hot rolled steel from the list of Open General License (OGL) and brought it under the restricted list of imports.

Then to boost domestic demand the Government announced a cut in excise duty on steel from 14 per cent to 10 per cent on December 7, following commitment from the producers that the benefits would be fully passed on to the consumers.

Benefits not passed on

However, market sources said that though the main producers have passed on the benefit of excise cut, the dealers are not doing the same and small consumers are suffering.

“Only the big buyers who need large quantities get to buy directly from the manufacturers but small consumers are left at the mercy of the dealers,” sources in the wholesale steel markets said.

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