Govt hikes import duty on steel to protect domestic firms

To protect homegrown companies from rising steel imports, government today increased the basic customs duty on the metal to 15 per cent.
The government also cut the special additional duty on metal scrap from 4 per cent to 2 per cent in the Budget for 2015-16.
"Tariff rate of basic customs duty on goods falling under all the traiff terms of Chapters 72 and 73 that is iron and steel and articles of iron and steel, is being increased from 10 per cent to 15 per cent," Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said in the Budget speech.
"However, there is no change in the existing effective rates of basic customs duty on these goods," he said.

Though the proposal is more like an enabling resolution, it is aimed at protecting home turf from rising imports, which have grown by around 60 per cent in the first 10 months of the current fiscal.
Jaitley reduced the Spacial Additional Duty on metal scrap of iron and steel, copper, brass and aluminium from 4 per cent to 2 per cent.
However he increased the basic customs duty on metallurgical coke, used in the blast furnace for iron making, from 2.5 per cent to 5 per cent.