The Centre has assured the country’s steel producers that it would consider their demands for waiving import and export duties in some sectors.
“We will listen to their demands and the issue of waiving export and import duties in some sectors will be deliberated,” Union Minister of Steel, Fertilisers and Chemicals Ram Vilas Paswan said today.
The steel ministry has convened a meeting of steel producers on October 18 to discuss the issue as the domestic steel market was quite depressed and the purchasing power of the people was eroding in view of the prevailing double-digit inflation.
Paswan, who was here in connection with a party event, told reporters that the steel producers had responded to the call of the government to reduce the price of commodity by Rs 4,000 per tonne when inflation was at its peak.
On the possible impact of the global meltdown on the domestic steel industry and apprehensions that some foreign steel companies would withdraw their projects from the country, the 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 per cent compared with 13 per cent growth in demand, it is unlikely to affect the domestic steel industry badly. “We don’t think the industry will be affected badly and projects withdrawn as a result of the global meltdown as there is demand for steel in the country,” Paswan pointed out.
He said the National Steel Policy had set a target of producing 124 million tonnes steel in the country by 2020 which have been revised and the steel production is targeted to be 124 mt by 2010-11. Similarly, it is targeted to produce 300-350 mt by 2020.
