New Delhi: Naveen Jindal, President of the Indian Steel Association and Chairman of Jindal Steel and Power, has welcomed the government’s move to impose a 12 percent safeguard duty on flat steel products, stating this will help investors to focus with “renewed vigour for a capacity build-up towards 300 million tons by 2030 for an Aatmanirbhar Bharat”.
The government’s action aligns India with other countries seeking to control foreign steel imports and protect domestic manufacturing sectors. By creating a level playing field, the safeguard duty is expected to reinvigorate investor confidence and accelerate the sector’s contribution to national growth. This temporary measure aims to curb the influx of cheap steel imports, primarily from China, South Korea, and Japan, which accounted for 78 percent of India’s finished steel imports in the fiscal year 2024-25.
India, the world’s second-largest crude steel producer, became a net importer of finished steel for the second consecutive year, with imports reaching a nine-year high of 9.5 million metric tons.