The Indian government is likely to cut import duties on steel further to rein in rising prices, government sources said on Wednesday, May 12.
The sources said that a decision has been taken to review the import duty structure for steel products and reduce import duty further or withdraw it completely for some select products to help user industries, particularly in small and medium-scale sectors which have been hard hit by spiralling steel prices over the past few months.
In the national budget presented before India’s parliament in February, the finance ministry had reduced the import duty on steel to a flat rate of 7.5 percent from the range of 10-12.5 percent and cut the duty on imported ferrous scrap to zero.
While the official announcement will be made by the Directorate General for Foreign Trade (DGFT), the sources said that the duty could be reduced to two percent from 7.5 percent, while the option of reducing it to zero is also on the cards.