Indian Government reduces import duty on steel products

Indian Government reduces import duty on steel products

The National Budget announcement by the Indian Government last week embraces import duty reduction for cold rolled and other finished steel products and an infrastructure building program at about Rs 600 billion (approx. $12.6 billion). The announcement of such a program pleased the Indian steel companies, as it would mean new projects that would require higher levels of steel consumption in the country. On the other hand, the reduction of import duties by 5% to 25% gave rise to worries as it is commonly believed among the Indian producers that this reduction might, in the long term, have an adverse affect on the Indian steel industry if not with immediate effect, as currently the domestic prices are more or less at similar levels with imports. Meanwhile, hot rolled coil import duty remains unchanged at 25%.