NEW DELHI: India, the world's third largest steel producer, imported steel worth Rs 36,073 crore in the first 10 months of this fiscal against almost Rs 44,893 crore in 2014-15, Parliament was informed today.
India witnessed about 75 per cent year-on-year rise in imports of total steel (alloy + non-alloy) in 2014-15 and about 24 per cent increase during April-January period of 2015-16, Steel and Mines Minister Narendra Singh Tomar told Rajya Sabha in a written reply.
"The jump in imports is, however, largely on account of global steel glut. Due to this reason, steel is being exported by China and other countries, often at below cost of production," he added.
The data provided by Tomar showed that India imported 9.3 million tonnes (MT) of total finished steel worth Rs 36,073 crore during April-January this fiscal against 9.32 MT worth Rs 44,893 crore in 2014-15.
In 2013-14 fiscal, the country imported 5.45 MT of total finished steel worth Rs 30,416 crore against 7.93 MT worth Rs 39,290 crore in 2012-13, it showed.
To protect domestic steel sector, government has taken various measures, which have reduced the pace of growth of imports, the minister said.
"While imports grew by about 75 per cent in the Financial Year 2014-15, compared to the financial year 2013-14, the import growth has slowed to about 24 per cent in the period April 2015 to January 2016, compared to the same period in the last financial year," he added.
Tomar said various steps have been taken to check import of cheap steel such as imposition of minimum import price, last month, on 173 steel products.
Besides in September 2015, the government has imposed a provisional Safeguard Duty of 20 per cent on hot-rolled flat products of non-alloy and other alloy steel, in coils of a width of 600 mm or more, for a period of 200 days, he added.
In June, 2015, an Anti-Dumping Duty was levied for five years on import of certain variety of hot-rolled flat products of stainless steel from China ($309 per tonne), Korea ($180 per tonne) and Malaysia ($316 per tonne).
Source :economictimes.indiatimes.com
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