Indian government may lift DEPB incentives for exports

Indian government may lift DEPB incentives for exports

Indian Steel Minister Ram Vilas Paswan has recently announced that he is of the opinion that domestic sales should be priority target of steel producers, especially at a time when the market faces steel shortage. Duty Entitlement Pass Book (DEPB) incentives encourage steel producers to export their products rather than to sell them in local market. However with the limited steel availability in the local market, the market situation deteriorates further with the products being exported. As previously reported by SteelOrbis, the government had suspended DEPB incentives for exports for a six-month period beginning as of March 2004. However, after they were restored in August 2004, significant increase in steel exports has been recorded in the second half. It is reported that exports of Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) have increased by 160%.