The Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) has sought more information from the steel industry which is demanding imposition of safeguard duty on certain products, sources said.
The Indian Steel Association (ISA) in February approached the DGTR for imposition of 25 per cent safeguard duty on imports of flat steel products, stating that continuous increase in the inbound shipments of the metal is hurting domestic manufacturers.
DGTR, an investigation arm of the commerce ministry, undertakes safeguard probe, following complaints from domestic players.
Currently, cold rolled and hot rolled flat steel products attract 10-12.5 per cent import duty.
"The association has approached the DGTR with a request that the duty should be increased to 25 per cent on all steel products except on few which are not manufactured in India," one of the sources, from industry, said.
The Indian steel industry is claiming that they are facing imminent threat from increasing imports especially from Iran.
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ISA had said imports are rising in India due to the ongoing tariff war between the US and China. In trade parlance, tariff war refers to significant increase in import duties.
It said Iran is exporting steel into India in contravention of the US' sanction via UAE.
ISA also apprised the steel ministry of the situation.
In a letter to Steel Secratary Binoy Kumar, it said, "These imports which are coming in at a predatory prices have become a serious concern for ISA. It is alarming that the UAE is a net importing country but the exports from UAE has suddenly surged by 390 per cent in 2018-19 from 2016-17."