Govt weighing more steps to protect domestic steel industry: minister

Minister of state foe steel and mines Narendra Singh Tomar today said the government will go the extra mile to protect the interests of domestic steel industry, which is facing competition from cheap Chinese steel.

Tomar said the steel industry is in a bad shape amidst cheap metal imports from China flooding the market, adding that the government is weighing additional steps to protect domestic steel industry from undercutting.

Steel demand has been falling in China, which is now trying to dump its excess steel in the Indian market, hitting domestic industry hard, Tomar said at the Industrial Engineering Expo 2016 in New Delhi today.

He said his government had already raised steel import duty to safeguard domestic industry. But these steps were not enough and we will be taking additional steps in this regard.

He said the steel ministry is currently engaged in a dialogue with the ministries of commerce and finance to work out the steps that need to be taken for protecting domestic steel industry.

"China is offering steel at half price compared to domestic industry in India. The way China is working, it appears an economic war was on," he said.

Further, the minister said, the government is in the process of setting up new steel plants in Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Karnataka besides expanding and modernising state-run steel production centres.

Tomar said the central government is also going to set up 6 to 7 plastic parks across the country.