October 07, 2008

Indian steel industry asks for review of DEPB scheme

PTI reported that Indian domestic steel industry on Friday asked the government to review the DEPB scheme to adequately protect the interest of exporters due to the rupee appreciation impacting export realization severely.

Mr Moosa Raza president of Indian Steel Alliance told agencies that "Rupee appreciation will have an impact on the export realization of our leading steel producers and the commerce ministry has to take account of this and could review the Duty Entitlement Passbook Scheme to ensure that exports of value added steel are adequately protected.”

Mr Sajjan Jindal vice CMD of JSW Steel also said that exports would be affected and the steel producers could lose out on value addition. He said "Our exports would be affected and on value addition we may lose out. The government should ensure that interest of the steel industry was secured.”

Mr Jindal also pointed out that another possible fallout of the Rupee appreciation could be that steel imports might become cheaper which could also adversely affect the domestic producers. He urged that "The government should strengthen its anti-dumping mechanism to ensure that the industry's interests were duly protected as the current mechanism to ensure the same was inadequate.”