Our steel shield mustn't become a slippery slope

India's safeguard duty on steel imports appears justified, but the rationale for the use of this device should be made clearer. Such duties shouldn't proliferate and raise costs all around.

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Fears of surplus production overseas being dumped in India, especially by Chinese manufacturers, have spiked amid the ongoing tariff war. On Monday, India's ministry of finance notified a safeguard duty of 12% for 200 days on five categories of steel imports if sold below specified dollar prices. These include hot-rolled coils, sheets and plates; hot-rolled plate mill plates; cold-rolled coils and sheets; metallic-coated steel coils and sheets; and color-coated coils and sheets. This follows the preliminary findings of a probe by the Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR), which had noted a "recent, sudden, sharp, and significant increase in imports" of these goods, putting domestic producers at the threat of "serious injury." Government data shows that our steel imports rose to 9.5 million tonnes in 2024-25 from 8.3 million tonnes the previous year. Shipments from South Korea, Japan, and other countries have been under the DGTR scanner, but particularly imports from China, whose economic slowdown has led to a steel glut.