MCMA asks govt to review steel quality control order

The Metal Containers Manufacturers Association (MCMA) today said the central government should review the proposed steel and steel products Quality Control Order which is likely to hit the trade severely.
Under the proposed Steel and Steel Products (Quality Control) Order, 2015, government is set to bring several steel products under a mandatory Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) registration.
"We have urged the government not to implement the proposed steel and steel products quality control order as it will jeopardise the quality of supplies, cost of production and make thousands of steel manufacturers sick," Federation of Associations of Maharashtra president Mohan Gurnani told reporters here.

"As per the proposed steel and steel products (Quality Control) Order, several steel products would require mandatory Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) registration, which currently takes about 10-12 months of processing.
"Anguished merchants see this as an unnecessary addition to the process terming it as 'Inspector Raj'. The fact that this would highly affect the imports of hot rolled steel and the merchants would be forced to pay 20 per cent more to the local suppliers, which in the longer run would affect the customers," Gurnani said.
An MCMA delegation, led by its president Sanjay Bhatia, met senior officials of Ministry of Steel, Ministry of Commerce and Ministry of MSME to represent and discuss implication of the draft steel quality control order on metal packaging industry.