Steel Minister Chaudhary Birender Singh on Thursday said that the upcoming goods and services tax (GST) regime is expected to give a boost to the sector.
"We expect the raw material cost to come down due to GST. Under it (GST) iron ore has been placed under the five per cent tax bracket," Singh said at a Ficci event organised here.
"The lower raw material cost will help in making the sector more competitive and boost exports."
According to Singh, even the logistics cost and the time taken for transport of steel based goods will be reduced.
"The time and cost taken for transport is also expected to come down substantially," Singh said at a workshop organised by Ficci on the 'National Steel Policy 2017' (NSP) and 'Policy for Providing Preference to Domestically Manufactured Iron and Steel Products in Government Procurement' (DMI&SP).
Singh elaborated at the workshop that NSP 2017 and DMI&SP which lay emphasis on value addition, research and development (R&D) and raw material security will pave the way for an accelerated growth of the steel industry.
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--IANS
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