India’s Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) has recommended final imposition of a safeguard duty on imports of certain flat steel products for three years to protect domestic manufacturers from a sudden jump in inbound shipments, according to a notification issued by the DGTR on Monday.
The duty was recommended by the DGTR in its final findings in a probe initiated following a complaint by the Indian Steel Association (ISA), the representative body of domestic steel producers.
Based on the preliminary findings, the government in April 2025 had imposed a provisional 12 percent safeguard duty for 200 days.
In its final report, the DGTR has recommended a 12 percent duty in the first year, 11.5 percent in the second, and 11 percent in the third year.
The recommendation covers a broad product basket: hot rolled coils, sheets and plates; plate mill plates; cold rolled coils and sheets; metallic-coated steel (galvanized, aluminium-zinc, zinc-magnesium); and colour-coated coils and sheets. Excluded are stainless steel, electrical steel, tin mill products and API line pipes.
The DGTR said that, taking into account the current serious injury to the domestic industry, and the imminent threat of injury due to the imports of subject goods, the fair selling price and, considering competing interest of all stakeholders, the authority recommends imposition of the duty on certain steel products.
However, trade policy think-tank Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI) in a statement criticized the recommendation for continuation of the duty for three years and said that the DGTR had overruled objections to the duty from over 250 industry stakeholders, including automobile manufacturers and consumer durable companies.
