Govt may slap up to 10% duty on steel

On the question of selling of the sick Indian Iron and Steel Company Ltd (Iisco) and Vijayanagar Steel plant as proposed by the Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI), Bias said no detailed discussions have been initiated by the Steel Authority of India Limited so far.

He strongly felt the need for a clearly defined single window clearance scheme for the mining sector in the country.This would also bring the desired level of transparency and encourage domestic as well as foreign investors to invest in this area.

On the issue of the Madhya Pradesh government’s attempt to invite leading South African from Debeers for diamond mining, the minister said so far no formal request for prospecting mining licence had been made to the central government.

The domestic steel industry is under tremendous pressure in view of large-scale dumping of steel by foreign companies over the past two years resulting in the piling up of huge stocks with all the major steel producers in the country. Bais, however warned that it was not certain that the imposition of anti-dumping duty would help the domestic industry, noting that in the case of pig iron industry it had played a reverse role. The imposition of anti-dumping duty on imported coke at the rate of Rs 1800 per tonne along with the eleven per cent additional tax has resulted in the virtual closure of the pig iron industry in the country, he added.