'Lack of QCO delaying capex in stainless steel industry'

The government recently extended the exemption granted to stainless steel products from mandatory Quality Control Order (QCO) compliance and excluded the stainless steel from recent anti-dumping measures imposed on import from Vietnam.

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Abhyuday Jindal, managing director of the ₹39,000-crore Jindal Stainless Ltd (JSL), in an interview with Saket Kumar in New Delhi, says the QCO exemption is hurting capital expenditure in the sector. Edited excerpts:

The government has imposed duties on steel imports from Vietnam, but excluded stainless steel. Do you think that is a miss?

Anti-dumping duties depend on the product categories cited by the domestic industry. Indian Stainless Steel Development Association (ISSDA) filed an anti-dumping duty application with Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) in June, and the case was initiated in September. There is definite injury from subsidised imports dumped from China and Vietnam, so some protection is essential. The investigation is on and we are hopeful relief will come within a year. Our application mainly covers cold-rolled stainless steel, which accounts for 75 to 80 per cent of total stainless steel usage. We have applied against China, Vietnam and Indonesia because Chinese material is routed through them. We have no issue with Japan, Korea or other fair suppliers.