India is likely to impose a "safeguard duty" or temporary tax of up to 25% on steel imports, industry and government sources said, to help to curb cheap imports from top producer China.
The proposal gained broad support at a meeting chaired by commerce minister Piyush Goyal on Tuesday after small industries dropped initial opposition once they received assurances that they would not be hit by higher steel prices.
"It seems the safeguard duty will be imposed after an investigation, likely completed within a month," said an industry official who attended the meeting. "To address concerns of small manufacturers, large steelmakers will supply them steel at reduced prices."
India's Directorate General of Trade Remedies is investigating whether cheap imports from China have harmed domestic steelmakers. The government is likely to impose the temporary tax once the investigation is over.
"MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises) registered with the government will receive raw materials at FOB (free on board) export prices," Pankaj Chadha, chairman of the Engineering Export Promotion Council of India (EEPC), said after the meeting.
Small manufacturers, consuming about 1 million metric tons of steel annually, are expected to benefit from the arrangement, with prices about 20% lower than market rates, Chadha said.
Major producers such as JSW Steel (JSTL.NS), Tata Steel (TISC.NS) and ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India have raised concerns about cheaper imports from China.
India, the world's second-biggest producer of crude steel, became a net importer of the alloy in the financial year to March 31, with imports surging to a record high during the first seven months of the current financial year.
A commerce ministry spokesman declined to comment.
Assurances of affordable supplies of steel to India's small industries would pave the way for imposition of temporary tax on steel imports, said a government official with the direct knowledge of the matter, noting that "a major roadblock has been removed".
