The Indian Stainless Steel Development Association (ISSDA) has called for increasing the import duty on stainless steel flat products in the Union Budget scheduled in February 2016, considering the fact that imports occupy 45-50% market share.
“In order to protect and revive the domestic ailing stainless steel sector, the government must enhance the basic customs duty on stainless steel flat products from the existing level of 7.5% to 15% in the Budget, ISSDA said.
“The duty on critical raw materials like pure nickel, ferro nickel, SS scrap and MS scrap also needs to be reduced to nil from the existing level of 2.5% in order to create a level playing field with China and other countries,” it said.
The association also asked government to initiate the investigation into the anti-circumvention petition (on width >1,250 mm) at the earliest to check unwarranted imports.
Source: ISMW