On December 2, the metal ministry in a gathering with the commerce division had proposed for a 25 per cent safeguard responsibility on sure metal merchandise imported into the nation. The metal minister and Commerce and Trade Minister Piyush Goyal have been current within the assembly.
A ultimate name on imposing the responsibility might be taken by the finance ministry on suggestions of the ministry of commerce.
Home metal gamers have been constantly elevating considerations over growing low cost imports of metal from choose nations, affecting their competitiveness.
Metal Secretary Sandeep Poundrik final month stated greater than 60 per cent of metal imports come from FTA (free commerce settlement) nations at nil responsibility and any responsibility hike won’t have any affect on these shipments.
There’s a real drawback and the ministry is conscious of that, Poundrik stated. India’s metal imports have been at 5.51 million tonnes (MnT) in April-September 2024-25, increased from 3.66 MnT within the year-ago interval, as per analysis agency BigMint.
Imports from China have surged to 1.85 MnT throughout that interval from 1.02 MnT in April-September interval of monetary 12 months 2023-24, it stated.