In a move to curb steel imports, Indian government banned the production and sale of steel products that does not meet Bureau of Indian Standard (BIS) approval.
In a Steel and Steel products (Quality Control) order dated 16 Dec’15 issued by Steel Ministry, BIS is made mandatory for all the steel products that are manufactured and traded in India.
The government has issued a list of 15 steel products for which BIS certification are mandatory. These 15 products which constitute a large part of steel imports will impact the imports of HRC, CRC, bars, wire rods, billets and HR plates.
Although government introduced measures like safeguard duty on HRC and anti-dumping duty on stainless steel products, market participants feel that mandatory BIS license will be more effective to curb imports as most of the global steel producers does not have BIS certificate.
As per SteelMint analysis, imports of products under HS code 7208 (hot rolled products) are recorded at 2.24 MnT in first six months of FY16 which was 2.01 MnT in full fiscal year ended in Mar’15.
As per Indian standards, products covered under HS code 7208 for which BIS norms have been made compulsory are IS 1079, IS 5986, IS 6240, IS 10478, and IS 11513.
The following table illustrates the import quantity of steel products covered under different HS codes for which BIS license have been made compulsory.
| HS Code | HS Code Description | BIS Grades | Import in FY16 (Apr’15-Sep’15) |
Import in FY15 (Apr’14-Mar’15) |
| 720827 | Hot rolled flat products | IS 1079, IS 5986, IS 6240, IS 10748, IS 11513 | 69,000 | 78,000 |
| 720836 | Hot rolled flat products | IS 1079, IS 5986, IS 10748, IS 11513 | 168,000 | 63,000 |
| 720837 | Hot rolled flat products | IS 1079, IS 5986, IS 6240, IS 10748, IS 11513 | 240,000 | 169,000 |
| 720838 | Hot rolled flat products | IS 1079, IS 5986, IS 6240, IS 10748, IS 11513 | 466,000 | 482,000 |
| 720839 | Hot rolled flat products | IS 1079, IS 5986, IS 6240, IS 10748, IS 11513 | 919,000 | 800,000 |
| 720851 | Hot rolled flat products | IS 5986 | 380,000 | 427,000 |
| 720916 | Cold rolled flat products | IS 513 | 164,000 | 349,000 |
| 720917 | Cold rolled flat products | IS 513 | 238,000 | 542,000 |
| 720918 | Cold rolled flat products | IS 513 | 57,000 | 64,000 |
| 722540 | SIlicon Electrical Sheet | IS 6240 | 164,000 | 828,000 |
| 72071290 | Carbon steel blooms or billets | IS 1875, IS 2879 | 256,000 | 342,000 |
| 72099000 | Cold rolled flat products | IS 513 | 97,000 | 263,000 |
| 72249091 | Other alloy steel in ingots | IS 1875, IS 2879 | 59,700 | 141,000 |
| 72253090 | SIlicon Electrical Sheet | IS 5986, IS 6240, IS 10748, IS 11513 | 492,000 | 827,000 |
| 72254019 | SIlicon Electrical Sheet | IS 3502, IS 5986 | 128,000 | 668,000 |
| 72255010 | SIlicon Electrical Sheet | IS 513 | 67,000 | 147,000 |
| 72279090 | Bars and rods | IS 432: Part1, IS 2879, IS 7283, IS 7887 | 399,000 | 757,000 |
| 72283019 | Other bars and rods, angles, sections | IS 432: Part1 | 107,000 | 335,000 |
| Total | 4,470,700 | 7,282,000 |
Source: Customs Data & SteelMint Research
Quantity in Tonnes
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