The Centre will consider the demand of the steel producers of the country for waving of import and export duty in some sectors. The Union steel ministry has convened a meeting of the steel producers on 18th of this month to discuss the issue.
This was disclosed by Union minister for steel, fertilizer and chemicals, Ram Vilas Paswan here today. Paswan said, the steel producers’ demand is being considered as the national steel market is somewhat depressed and the purchasing power of the people is on the decline in view of double digit inflation.
“We will listen to their demands and the issue of waving export and import duty in some sectors will be deliberated in the meeting”, he said.
Paswan, who was here in connection with a party event told the media that the steel producers had responded to the call of the government to reduce the price of steel by Rs 4000 per tonne when inflation was at its peak.
As the national steel market is down and the purchasing power of the people is eroding, the government has called a meeting with the steel producers.
The industry has also been demanding waving of export duty in some sectors and import duty in some other sectors, he added.
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On the possible impact of the global melt down on the national steel industry and possibility of some steel companies withdrawing their projects from the country, the Union minister said, it would be difficult to say how it will impact the industry at this point.
But given the vast size of the Indian steel market where production is growing by 6 percent compared to 13 percent growth in demand, it is unlikely to affect the steel industry badly. “We don’t think that the industry will be affected badly and projects withdrawn as a result of the global meltdown as there is demand for steel in the country”, Paswan reasoned.
He said, the National Steel Policy had set a target of producing 124 million tonnes of steel in the country by 2020 which have been revised and the steel production is targeted to be 124 million tonne by 2010-11.
Similarly, it is targeted to produce about 300 million tonne to 350 million tonne by 2020.
On the proposed merger of the Nilachal Ispat Nigam Limited (NINL) with Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL), Paswan said, all the stakeholders will have to agree with this merger. However, there are no financial or technical difficulties for the merger.