India Steel Market Watch
December 18: The government is planning to issue a Steel and Steel Products (Quality Control) Order, 2015 to ban production, sale or distribution of any steel product that does not meet the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) approval as reported by ISMW in its December 17th edition.
The move is part of the efforts being made to rein in rising imports and protect the domestic industry for which the government has already issued a safeguard duty on certain steel items and anti-dumping duty on stainless steel products.
The order does not pertain to exports of steel by domestic producers. The proposed order will come into effect three months from the time of its official notification.
The draft order has been published on the steel ministry's website and covers a wide range of steel products.
The steel products that must meet mandatory BIS specifications include mild steel and medium tensile bars and hard drawn steel wires for concrete reinforcement, cold reduced carbon steel sheets and strips, billets, blooms, slabs and bars for forgings, cold rolled (CR) steel strips, hot rolled (HR) steel flat products, HR steel plates and strips for liquefiable gas cylinders, HR bars for production of bright bars and machined parts for engineering applications, HR steel strips for welded pipes and tubes, HR steel strips for cold rolling purposes.
Most industry watchers and analysts feel this measure will be stronger and more effective in curbing imports compared to the earlier moves by the government since most overseas steel producers do not meet BIS norms.
The sub-standard or defective steel products that do not conform to the order will have to be disposed of as scrap as per the scheme of testing and inspection of BIS. As per the order, all manufacturers of steel and steel products will have to apply to BIS for getting a license and for use of the standard mark of BIS.
To secure compliance, it says, the appropriate authority may inspect books or other documents and other steel products belonging to the manufacturer/trader and also enter and search premises and seize any steel products believed to be not of the specified standard.