Top bankers have asked the government to slap anti-dumping duty on imports of steel to salvage the iron and steel sector hit by dumping of steel by other countries, especially China.
State Bank of India chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya told finance ministry officials about the need for introducing anti-dumping duty on imports of steel and gave the example of the US where 35 per cent anti dumping has been imposed on steel imports.
SBI chairman’s proposal came after the finance ministry complained to top bankers that banks are not meeting the credit needs of stalled projects. “Stalled projects are not getting desired attention of banks. Financial services secretary (Hasmukh Adhia) expressed his concern over the issues and advised the banks to come forward to meet the credit requirement of stalled projects,” the ministry said in a note to bank chiefs.
The SBI chief said there is very little demand for credit for new projects. “Corporate demand for credit is not coming in,” she told the ministry officials in a meeting with bankers recently. Major sectors which are affected include iron and steel, sugar, mining and construction and the power sector. Steel and iron has been affected due to high rate of iron ore, bankers told the ministry.
Latest figures compiled by the Ministry of Finance in March 2015 indicate that 299 mega projects involving an outlay of Rs 18.13 lakh crore still remain stalled with the Project Management Group (PMG) in the cabinet secretariat.
A top banker, who attended the review meeting with ministry officials, said the sugar industry is facing high production cost vis-à-vis the price realisation. In order to solve the problems of sugar industry, bankers suggested that the percentage of ethanol use permitted in petroleum products may be increased from 10 per cent to 35 per cent.
“Power sector is facing fuel supply problems. Mining sector suffers involvement of state governments. Road construction suffers because of delayed clearance form National Highway Authority of India (NHAI). The problems of each sector need to be addressed separately,” they said as per a ministry note.
Reserve Bank data shows credit growth to industry halved to 6 per cent in February 2015, down from an increase of 13.2 per cent in February 2014.
Source:- indianexpress.com/
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