Ahead of the national budget 2021-22 scheduled to be placed before the Indian Parliament early next year, domestic pellet producers have sought the restoration of export incentives, according to a pre-budget input submitted by the Pellet Manufacturers’ Association of India (PMAI).
“Earlier under the export promotion scheme of the government, pellet producers received duty drawbacks at rates of 2.5-3 percent. We want this to be restored as this would be aligned to the government’s “Make in India” policy,” Manish Kharbanda, president of the PMAI, said in a statement.
Mr. Kharbanda said that the pellet making industry exports about 10-11 percent of aggregate production and that there has been a lot of talk of imposing an export ban, while the PMAI has submitted to the government that this would be counterproductive since Indian steel mills’ demand for pellets is not so strong.
The PMAI president said that the pellet industry is operating at about 80 percent of capacity and, even if domestic demand increases, pellet producers have sufficient headroom to increase production and meet incremental demand.