Fiscal steps to curb cheap steel imports favoured .

Steel producers have been asking for an increase in import duty to 15-20 per cent or a safeguard duty of about 25 per cent. With the slowdown in the US and European markets, CIS, Russian and Chinese steel makers have turned their attention to India, where growth is still positive.

In November, the Government re-imposed a five per cent import duty on steel and brought hot rolled steel under the restricted list of imports. Steel producers, though, complained that actual import of the metal continues unabated.

The decision to impose a safeguard duty was deferred earlier this month by the Board of Approval, chaired by the Commerce Secretary, till the board had received the user industry’s views. Compared with the Indian steel prices of Rs 26,000-27,000 a tonne, steel is being imported at landed cost of about $430 (Rs 20,200). Input cost is yet to come down for steel producers tied in long-term contracts with their raw material providers.

The Minister said he intended to set up appropriate empowered mechanisms for hastening investment proposals. Currently, 222 memorandum of understanding, amounting to Rs 11 lakh crore, have been signed between various investors and State Governments.

He would also take up the issue of supporting infrastructure, whether its port facilities, railway and road access or power, that the ongoing capacity expansion of PSUs will require.

The timely completion of Steel Authority of India Ltd’s and Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd’s expansion projects, together totalling investments of Rs 70,000 crore, and NMDC’s plans for an integrated steel plant in Chhattisgarh would be a priority, said Mr Singh.

On his first day at his new office, the Minister also requested the Ministry of Mines to undertake consequential amendments to the Mines and Minerals Policy to facilitate allocation of mines. He also pointed out that half of the country’s annual production of iron ore was being exported, and stressed on the need for cautious utilisation.