Govt Extends Steel Import Duties for 3 Years to Curb Dumping

• Safeguard duties on select steel imports have been extended for three years until April 2028
• The duty starts at 12% and tapers to 11%, targeting import surges from China and others
• Steelmakers welcomed the move, while user industries warned of higher costs

The Indian government has prolonged the safeguard duties on the importation of selected steel products for the duration of three years with the aim of shielding the local manufacturers from the increase of low-priced imports and preventing dumping especially from countries like China.

The ruling is a substitute for the past short-term action and is intended to give the steel sector more confidence. The safeguard measure was first proposed in April as a temporary 12 percent duty for 200 days and now it will be in force until April 2028 according to the official announcement.

The first year of the new scheme will have a duty of 12 percent from April 21, 2025, and will decrease gradually to 11.5 percent in the second year and 11 percent in the third year. The analysts pointed out that the provisional levy limited duration had raised worries among the investors, and now the longer timeline provides less ambiguous protection for the domestic producers.

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Naveen Jindal, President of Indian Steel Association (ISA), welcomed the decision and praised the duty as a well-measured action to stabilize the domestic steel market, while at the same time guaranteeing enough supply for both infrastructure and consumer demand.

Jindal emphasized that surplus steel from China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam had been increasingly sent to India, which in turn had a negative impact on the capacity utilization, investment plans, and employment. He indicated that the safeguard duty has a role in the return of the competitive balance throughout the domestic steel value chain.

The decision is a result of an investigation which the Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) started last December regarding the imports of non-alloy and alloy steel flat products which had sharply increased.

The imports skyrocketed from 2.29 million tonnes in 2021–22 to 6.61 million tonnes during the period of investigation. While steel manufacturers stood by the duty, the user industries and MSME exporters expressed their concerns that the duty might push up the input costs and thus, they would lose their competition. Nevertheless, steel stocks went up a lot after the announcement.