Commerce Ministry Recommends Three-Year Safeguard Duty on Steel Imports Amid Rising Inflows

To safeguard local manufacturers from a “serious surge” of imports, the Directorate General of Trade Remedies of the Ministry of Commerce has made a recommendation to place a safeguard duty on imports of certain flat products for three years.

The investigation was initiated in December 2024 based on complaints to DGTR by the Indian Steel Association. Members of the association include companies such as Arcelor Mittal, Nippon Steel India, JSW Steel, Jindal Steel and Power, and Steel Authority of India. The Indian Steel Association contended that non-alloy and alloy flat steel imports surged rapidly and that domestic producers currently suffer considerable injury from this.

The government had already imposed a provisional 12% safeguard duty for 200 days in April this year. Now, in its final findings, DGTR has established that imports of the product under consideration have “suddenly, sharply and significantly” increased owing to unanticipated developments worldwide, especially a shift in the redirection of exports from China. In 2024, China exported as much as 110.7 million tonnes of such steel, a 25% year-on-year increase, with a significant share of them directed to India.

Accordingly, the safeguard duty was recommended by DGTR for 12% to be applied in the first year, followed by application rates of 11.5% in the second and 11% in the third year. The duty will be imposed on hot-rolled, cold-rolled, metallic-coated, and color-coated steel.
“The authority finds that increased imports threaten to cause serious injury to the domestic industry,” DGTR said in its notification, citing the need to balance fair selling price, current injury, and long-term threats.

However, the recommendation has sparked pushback from user industries. The Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI), a trade policy think tank, said DGTR rejected over 250 submissions opposing the duty, including those from leading automakers and electronics firms. GTRI co-founder Ajay Srivastava warned that the move would “raise input costs, hurt export competitiveness, and squeeze downstream users in auto, engineering, and construction.”

GTRI argued that imports were neither sudden nor unforeseen, and that claims of domestic industry injury were overstated. “These duties may shield a few large producers but will hurt India’s broader manufacturing ecosystem,” Srivastava said.

The final decision now rests with the government, which will weigh the DGTR’s recommendations against the concerns of user industries before imposing the three-year safeguard duty.