The government on August 26 rejected the demand for imposition of safeguard duty on imports of certain steel and aluminium products.
The standing board on safeguard headed by commerce secretary Rahul Khullar rejected the recommendations of directorate general of safeguards, DGS, saying the domestic industry is not being hurt by imports.
Safeguard duty, a WTO-compliant mechanism, is imposed as and when a surge in import is found to be hurting the local industry. In its revised draft, the DGS had reached a benchmark of Rs 27,000 a ton.
The difference between the landed cost of the imported consignment and the benchmark should have been the safeguard duty on flat steel products like hot-rolled coils, sheets and strips to be imposed as duty. The DGS had also recommended 10% duty on imports of certain aluminium and its waste and scrap.
Meanwhile, steel minister Virbhadra Singh said there is no large-scale dumping of steel happening at present and if there is a surge in shipments, his ministry would act sternly.
Amid the global slump in demand, various steel and aluminium majors were charged by the domestic industry of dumping their cheaper goods in India, where demand was relatively stronger.
Source : myiris.com