Industry body Indian Steel Association (ISA) has approached the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) alleging undervaluation in import of 35,000 tonnes of steel products originating from South Korea.
In a letter to CBEC Chairman Najib Shah in October, ISA has alleged that during this time, import consignment of hot rolled (HR) steel coils to the tune of 35,000 tonnes have come into the country with a cost, insurance and freight (CIF) in the range of USD 224-247 per tonne, a source said.
"The industry is claiming that this can be a case of under-voicing or under-valuation of the consignment," the source added.
In September this year, India had imposed a safeguard duty of 20 per cent of certain grades HR coils and this had come out in a notification on September 14, 2015.
Drawing CBEC's attention to the imports that happened at Indian ports in September before the levy of the safeguard duty, the letter said the consignments were custom cleared with the lowest price being USD 308 per tonne.
"ISA says that the import clearance in October at USD 224 per tonne raises a serious issue on the valuation of the consignments, which may be an intent to avoid paying the extra on safeguard duty by under invoicing the imports," he said.
The research and development in Indian steel industry was
"dismal", Singh said adding there was a need to work on 'out-of-box' solutions and technologies for steel making using indigenous resources.
"On one hand, there is overlapping and duplication of research efforts, on the other hand no research is being done on future requirements of the industry," he said.
"I went to Luxembourg last year and was apprised that they are trying to explore for mineral resources in space. In a small country like Luxembourg, (they) can dream that big, what stops us from aiming high?," he said.
The steel ministry is in the process of talking to hill states to increase the use of crash barriers to minimise fatalities due to road accidents on hills, he informed.
The rural development ministry has already recommended use of steel-intensive structures in rural housing, he added.
Stating that the government is making efforts so that India made steel can be defined in light of the existing Public Procurement Bill, he said "this will provide for mandatory procurement from domestic bidders on the ground of promoting domestic industry".
"Basically the aim is to emphasise lower life cycle costing while evaluating projects, rather than just looking at the upfront cost alone," the minister said.
