Stainless Steel Bodies Fear Closure after Budget Import Duty Concessions

Indian Stainless Steel Development Association (ISSDA), India’s apex Stainless Steel body, along with four other major associations representing MSME Stainless Steel producers has expressed their concern about the adverse impact on domestic Stainless Steel industry due to the reduced import duty on Steel products in the Union Budget 2021.

Expressing his concerns on the issue Mr. K.K. Pahuja, President, ISSDA said “The Government reversed six trade remedies out of which three relate to Stainless Steel, which is just 3% of overall Steel industry in India. Therefore, it has disproportionately impacted Stainless Steel, including its MSME sector, and considerably dipped the market sentiment”. MSME sector constitutes about 35% of the domestic Stainless Steel Industry and even now they are not running on full capacity.

China has over 30% surplus capacity for Stainless Steel production. Also in last 2-3 years huge Chinese investments have been made in Indonesian Stainless Steel sector which has piled up imports from these two countries in India. This along with liquidity crisis due to lockdown is hugely impacting the MSME Stainless Steel industry.