Indian vehicle manufacturers have strongly opposed the imposition of security duty on import of certain grade steel. He says that they are forced to import at the local level production and strict emissions and safety standards in the absence of viable options.
The Indian Steel Association (ISA) gave a letter to the government on December 19, 2024 on behalf of its members for levying security fees on non-all and alloy steel flat products. The Director General of Trade Treatment (DGTR) under the Ministry of Commerce has now started investigating it. These special steel products include hot rolled coil, sheet, plate, cold rolled coil and sheet, color coated coil and sheet.
According to vehicle industry sources, these special steel products worth about $ 5 billion were imported in 2023-24.
Sayam, an organization of vehicle manufacturers, has strongly opposed the levy of safety fees on these special steel products by writing a letter on 31 December 2024. All the major vehicle companies of the country making passenger vehicles are members of Sayam.
Sayam said, ‘The vehicle industry is already considering the possibility of using alternative materials. But the industry is forced to import these materials in view of technical challenges in view of considering various emissions related regulatory criteria and the desire to produce better security vehicles. He said, ‘Some of these grades are not disposable at all and the vehicle industry has no idea when their production will start in the long term. Members of Sayam are committed to working with domestic steel producers to deal with this challenge in the long run.
For this information, no response came till the news of the email sent by Business Standard to Sayam.
ISA General Secretary Alok Sahai said, “Since this matter is with DGTR, we would not want to comment on it.”
Sources in the steel industry said that most of the grade steel used in vehicles is being produced in India.
An official of ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India said that the vehicle industry imports steel for about 15 per cent of the needs. He said, ‘But India has enough capacity to reduce an additional reduction of 5 to 7 percent. Also, this year AM/NS India is preparing to bring a lot of price -added products. The vehicle industry can accelerate the approval process and after that India will become about 100 percent self -sufficient in terms of steel used in vehicles.