With the government exempting certain stainless steel products from anti-dumping duties, Finland-based Outokumpu today said it will look to enter into supply pacts with the Indian Railways soon.
"We are in talks with Indian Railways for supplying our stainless steel products. The removal of anti-dumping duty may now help us in concluding some agreement with the railways," Outokumpu India Head Y P S Suri said.
The government, on Monday, reworked the anti-dumping duty structure on various items, including stainless steel products like the cold-rolled flat variety, used by white goods and automobile industry.
In the stainless steel segment, Suri said, the Finance Ministry approved the recommendations of its Commerce counterparts and exempted products of the alloy below 600 mm width and above 1,250 mm from anti-dumping duty, on which provisional duty was imposed earlier.
The duty rollback, Outokumpu said, will facilitate bringing more such high grade products into the country.
The duty, however, at present stands at a maximum of about $2,200 per tonne on various other products coming especially from China, South Korea, Taiwan.
Besides railways, which uses stainless steel in making coaches, Suri said, the removal of anti-dumping duty on certain sizes of the alloy will help consuming firms like Metro Coach manufacturer Bombardier, BEML and others procure products from companies like Outokumpu.