Commerce & Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has asked steel manufacturers to consider offering some “relief” to small industries and exporters using steel as an input for manufacturing of components and other engineering products.
The Minister met participants from the steel industry and the user industry on Thursday to discuss and address issues raised by the MSME sector.
Goyal said that special care needs to be taken of MSMEs needs for easier and cost effective supply of steel, according to an official release issued by the Commerce & Industry Ministry.
Steel prices have almost doubled over the last year causing distress to MSMEs manufacturing a wide range of items that uses steel as inputs such as electrical equipment and engineering products.
The Minister asked the steel industry stake holders to assess the manufacturing costs and explore the possibilities of offering relief to small user industries.
The meeting was also attended by Union Minister of Steel Ram Chandra Prasad Singh, Minister of MSMEi Narayan Tatu Rane, SAIL chairperson. Soma Mondal, Rashtriya Ispat Nigam CMD Atul Bhatt, JSW Steel CMD Sajjan Jindal and Tata Steel CEO and MD T V Narendran.
Representatives from the Federation of Indian Exporters Organization, the Auto Components Manufacturers Association, EEPC and All India Cycle Manufacturers Association also participated.