• India imposed a 12 per cent provisional safeguard duty for 200 days on five steel product categories to protect domestic players from surge in imports.

• The decision follows a recommendation for the same by the Commerce Ministry’s investigation arm Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR).

• The safeguard duty imposed under this notification shall be effective for a period of 200 days (unless revoked, superseded or amended earlier) from the date of publication of the notification.

• The government has set the import prices between $675 per tonne to $964 per tonne for the five steel product categories. Any shipment imported below these import prices would attract the safeguard duty.

• The safeguard duty shall not be imposed on the product categories when imported into India at or above the specified import price on CIF (cost insurance freight) basis.

The product categories are:

i) Hot rolled coils, sheets and plates

ii) Hot rolled plate mill plates

iii) Cold rolled coils and sheets

iv) Metallic coated steel coils and sheets

v) Colour coated coils and sheets, whether or not profiled.

Why DGTR recommended to impose safeguard duty?

• In December 2024, the Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) started the investigation into the sudden surge in imports of ‘Non-Alloy and Alloy Steel Flat Products’, used in various industries, including fabrication, pipe making, construction, capital goods, auto, tractors, bicycles, and electrical panels.

• The investigations were conducted following a complaint from the Indian Steel Association on behalf of its members and Steel Authority of India Limited.

• The directorate in its probe had found that there is a recent, sudden, sharp and significant increase in the imports of these products into India, which will seriously affect the domestic industry/producers.

• The directorate has said in a notification dated March 18, 2025 that there exist critical circumstances, where any delay in application of provisional safeguard measures would cause damage which would be difficult to repair.

• According to the industry, the existence of significant excess capacity far exceeding domestic consumption in China, Japan and South Korea have arisen due to slowing demand in those countries.

• Import of these products increased from 2.293 million tonnes during 2021-22 to 6.612 million tonnes during the period of investigation.

• The imports have increased from countries including China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam. 

• The DGTR had noted that the objective of the duty is to protect the Indian domestic industry against the surge of imports.

• Safeguard measures in the form of duty or quantitative restrictions are trade remedies available to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) member countries. They are imposed to provide a level-playing field to domestic players in case of sudden and significant increase in imports of a product.

• The measure is used when imports of a particular product increase unexpectedly to a point that they cause or threaten to cause serious injury to domestic producers.

• These duties are applicable against all the countries with uniform rate of duty unlike the anti-dumping duties.

Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR)

• The Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) (earlier known as Directorate General of Anti-Dumping & Allied Duties) is an attached office of the department of commerce.

• The Directorate General of Anti-Dumping & Allied Duties (DGAD) was formed in 1997. 

• It was restructured as DGTR in May 2018 by restructuring and re-designing DGAD into DGTR by incorporating all the trade remedial functions — Anti-Dumping Duty (ADD), Countervailing Duty (CVD), Safeguards Duty (SGD), Safeguards Measures (QRs) under a single window framework. 

• Thus, the DGTR was formed by merging of functions of DGAD, Department of Commerce, Directorate General of Safeguards, Department of Revenue and Safeguards (QR) functions of DGFT into its fold.

• The DGTR is a professionally integrated organisation with multispectrum skill sets emanating from officers drawn from different services and specialisations. 

• The DGTR is a quasi-judicial body that independently undertakes investigations before making its recommendations to the central government.

• It is the single national authority for administering all trade remedial measures including anti-dumping, countervailing duties and safeguard measures.

• The DGTR provides a level playing field to the domestic industry against the adverse impact of the unfair trade practices like dumping and actionable subsidies from any exporting country, by using trade remedial methods under the relevant framework of the WTO arrangements, the Customs Tariff Act & Rules and other relevant laws and international agreements, in a transparent and time bound manner. 

• It also provides trade defence support to our domestic industry and exporters in dealing with instances of trade remedy investigations instituted against them by other countries.

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