Following the complaints made by the Indian engineering industry, India’s Ministry of Commerce has confronted its counterparts in the Ministry of Steel, claiming that the continuation of the Minimum Import Price (MIP) for steel will further cripple engineering product exports, a ministry official said on Thursday, April 28. The Ministry of Commerce is thus laying the grounds for opposition to the MIP ahead of the review of the MIP scheduled for June.
The Ministry of Commerce, concerned over plunging engineering product exports, has decided to take a confrontational stance towards the Ministry of Steel, demanding that the MIP needed a review as the protectionist measure did not take into consideration the impact across all industries, while the interest of steel producers alone could not be the sole criteria, the ministry official added.
Meanwhile, in a communication to the Ministry of Commerce, India’s Engineering Export Promotion Council (EEPC) has sought a compensatory mechanism from the government to cope with the higher costs of domestic steel raw materials.