Duty-related measures a timely move by govt to control steel prices: Industry body ICEMA

Duty-related measures taken by the government is a timely move to control unprecedented rise in steel prices, which were impacting the entire infrastructure sector, industry body ICEMA said on Monday.In a statement, Indian Construction Equipment Manufacturers Association ICEMA said the industry had been under lot of stress due to continuously increasing steel prices.The recent measures taken by the government are aimed to address the long standing demand of the industry to bring down the costs and ensure availability of steel for the domestic manufacturers.

Duty-related measures taken by the government are a timely move to control the unprecedented rise in steel prices, which were impacting the entire infrastructure sector, industry body ICEMA said on Monday.

In a statement, the Indian Construction Equipment Manufacturers Association (ICEMA) said the industry had been under a lot of stress due to continuously increasing steel prices.

''The recent measures taken by the government are aimed to address the long-standing demand of the industry to bring down the costs and ensure availability of steel for the domestic manufacturers. The industry was under a lot of stress because of continually increasing steel prices over the past couple of years,'' Dimitrov Krishnan President, ICEMA President, said in the statement.

This will also help manage the cost of infrastructure development in the country, he said.

On Saturday, the government announced waiving of customs duty on the import of some raw materials, including coking coal and ferronickel, used by the steel industry.

Also, the duty on exports of iron ore was hiked by 50 percent and on a few steel intermediaries by 15 percent.

Seema Gupta, Secretary-General, ICEMA, said: ''We welcome the positive move by the government and express gratitude for addressing the challenges related to rising raw material prices and limited supply.'' The measures would ease the stress on the CE manufacturers and their MSME supply chain partners, she said.

Pratik Kumar, Convener – ICEMA Manufacturing & Supply Chain Panel and CEO, Wipro Infrastructure Engineering, said the duty on steel export is a timely move to control unprecedented steel price increase which has been impacting the entire infra industry significantly.

Projects cost were impacted largely due to an increase in input material costs. The government's latest move will provide some respite to the entire industry in keeping projects viable, he said.

Deepak Shetty, Convener- ICEMA SMART Infra Panel and CEO & Managing Director of JCB India, said the construction equipment industry, through various forums, had been raising the issue of a sharp rise in commodity prices.

''This abnormal rise was not only increasing the input cost of finished products but was also impacting the overall sentiment of the economy. The recent interventions (by the government) are strong steps in the right direction. ''Additionally, the lowering of excise duty on diesel and petrol will further improve the outlook. We hope that this reduction in input costs will help drive infrastructure projects, particularly in the rural areas, leading to a strong revival of the economy,'' Shetty said.

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