Indian real estate developers have sought the intervention of the Prime Minister to rein in rising prices of construction grade steel long products cautioning that high prices of steel is jeopardizing the government’s “Housing for All” program, government sources said.
They said that real estate developers represented by Confederation of Real Estate Developers of India (Credai) wrote to the Prime Minister’s Office pointing out that construction grade long product prices escalated almost 40 percent since 2016 pushing up construction costs particularly that of low cost housing where margins for builders are already very thin.
A section of builders also pointed out that the mandatory quality certification for long projects without which rolling mills are prohibited to sell in the domestic market has also leading to shortage of construction grade steel products faced by the construction industry.
The builders said that the normal process of applying for certification of quality with the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) and receiving the final certification stamp could range between 4 to 6 months and hence most construction grade steel product producers particularly in small and medium scale, reduced production levels to bare minimum since sale of non-certified products is prohibited and could attract seizure of stocks and even financial penalties.