The Indian Steel Association (ISA) welcomed the government notification favourably extending the safeguard duty 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 two years and six months from the date of levy of provisional safeguard duties on September 14, 2015.
Secretary General of the Indian Steel Association (ISA), Dr Sanak Mishra, said the imposition of the safeguard duties will guard against cheap imports into India and help domestic steel units compete on a level playing field.
However, he cautioned that circumvention of these duties should also be prevented, since instances of imports of commercial grade structural hot rolled coils (included under safeguard duty) in the guise of API grade steels (excluded under the safeguard duty) have been reported since the levy of the provisional safeguard duty in September 2015.
Additionally, imports under the Minimum Import Price (MIP) regime against 173 HS codes under Chapter 72 of the International Trade Classification (ITC) [Vide Notification No 38/2015-2020 dated February 5, 2016 by the Director General of Foreign Trade, Ministry of Commerce] covering almost 80% of imports into India should be closely monitored. This is especially so, since safeguard duties would not apply in case of goods being imported at or above MIP, as per the CBEC notification, he added.