The Indian government has amended provisions in domestically manufactured iron and steel products (DMI & SP) which provides preference to domestic steel procurement for government projects, a government notification said on Wednesday, January 6.
According to the government notification, domestically produced steel will be given preference in every government project where the value of steel procurement is above INR 500,000 ($6,849), lowering the threshold value of steel procurement from INR 250 million ($3.42 million).
In effect, any government project where the steel procurement value is above the INR 500,000 mark, domestically produced steel will be given preference as per the amended DMI & SP policy.
To make the import option more stringent, the new notification stipulates that procurement of steel cannot be split into smaller volumes to avoid the lower threshold set under the amended policy.
“All central sector schemes, or centrally sponsored schemes for which procurement is made by states and local bodies, will come under the purview of this policy, if the project is fully or partly funded by the government,’ the notification said.
However, the amendment will not apply in the case of steel procurement tenders or notices inviting tenders that have already been floated by government-funded projects.