PMO blocks ministries’ steel import price plan

Concerned over cheap imported steel from China flooding Indian markets and adversely affecting the investments of domestic companies, a proposal by the steel and commerce ministries to impose a minimum import price (MIP) on certain categories of the commodity is learnt to have been blocked by the PMO for fear that any such move may violate WTO norms and fuel black-marketing.

The red signal to the proposed move of the ministries by the PMO, appears to be an embarrassment to the commerce ministry, which, after receiving several missives from the steel ministry, had made plans to issue a notification for imposing MIP (a floor price) below which no imported steel shipment would be allowed to be sold in the Indian markets. This would have helped domestic steel-makers reclaim their market and recover their investments, sources said.