Steel product users in the Indian engineering industry are seeking an exemption from payment of 20 percent safeguard duty on all import contracts signed before September this year when the duty was made effective, an official from the Federation of India Industries said on Wednesday, November 11.
The official said that pending import shipments of contracts signed before September became unviable by the imposition of the safeguard duty and that the government should also take into consideration that the Indian rupee in the meantime has depreciated from INR 64 to the US dollar to current level of INR 66.45.
The federation representing engineering companies and large users of finished steel products also suggests that similar import duties should apply on hot rolled coils (HRC) and finished products like pipes and tubes.
The official said that the effective rate of import duty on HRC including the recent 20 percent safeguard duty is around 32.5 percent, while the import duty on steel pipes and tubes is around 12.5 percent.