Tata Steel today said it expects Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will take necessary measures in the upcoming Union Budget to rein in rising steel imports for making the domestic industry competitive.

“Indian Steel industry is facing surging imports from countries like China, Russia, Japan and Korea. We expect necessary measures would be taken to arrest this trend to make the domestic industry competitive,” Tata Steel Managing Director (India and South Asia) T V Narendran said in a statement.

Imports of steel to India, a net importer, went up to 8.1 million tonnes during April—January period of current fiscal.

As much as 2.9 million tonnes of that came from China. While for Russia, India is a traditional export market; Japan and Korea also exporting steel to India taking advantage of the free trade agreements.

The Steel Ministry has also urged the Finance Ministry to raise import duties to curb dumping of steel into the country.

Since the steel industry required moving huge amount of raw materials and finished products through railways and ports, he expects “sufficient fillip would be given in Budget by making investment in railway infrastructure and port capacities.”

Meanwhile, welcoming stability in the mining sector towards the extension of mining leases, he said it was expected that domestic production of raw materials should increase through the implementation of the mining ordinance by way of reopening of many of the closed mines.

“Resumption of production levels should help in achieving Government’s vision of 300 million tonnes of steel by 2025.

The industry is also looking forward to policies that will streamline land and forest clearances for infrastructure development that is imperative for the growth of the industry as well as the nation,” he said.

Tata Steel, Union Budget, steel import, raise import duties, domestic steel production

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