Steel import rules restrictive despite economic slowdown, says EEPC

While compulsory registration will monitor steel product inflow into the country, the specifications seem unwarranted, the engineering exporters' body said

At a time when exports are battling a global slowdown, the latest restriction on steel product imports will add to the woes of India’s engineering goods exporters, said the Engineering Export Promotion Council (EEPC). Steel is raw material for engineering goods companies.

In a letter to Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, EEPC Chairman Ravi Sehgal said a Directorate General of Foreign Trade notification of September 5, in the name of Steel Import Monitoring System, has mandated compulsory registration for import of most of the steel products — under Chapter 72 and few products under Chapter 73 and 86