Centre may relax quality control compliance window for steel intermediates
quality control orders
(QCO) on intermediate material for manufacturing final steel products. Sources said a call on the relaxation was taken by the
Steel Ministry
after multiple stakeholders flagged concerns over the less time they were given to comply with the enhanced quality control mandate which was issued in June. The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) defines the quality norms that need to be met by products.
'Companies will be given additional time to clear
inventory
of any non-BIS compliant steel intermediates,' a senior official told ET while adding a call on giving the relaxation was taken during a stakeholder consultation on
BIS certification
under the QCO framework Monday.
'The core concern revolves around BIS certification requirements, particularly for imports with specific focus on Chinese-origin products entering India through Vietnam,' the official said.
The steel ministry has also constituted a Technical Committee to examine issues of substandard imports bypassing quality control regulations.
Officials said most cast iron (CI) and stainless-steel imports coming from Vietnam are essentially of Chinese origin.
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'Vietnam has seen large-scale Chinese investment, and many of the manufacturing units there are fully or partially Chinese-owned. Due to a Free Trade Agreement (FTA), there is no import duty on goods coming from Vietnam, making it an easy backdoor for Chinese products to enter India,' the official added.
Non-BIS compliant products cannot be sold or imported in the country once a QCO is enforced. In June this year, the Steel Ministry decided that intermediate materials used for manufacturing final products under the QCO regime need to comply with BIS norms as well. This was strictly opposed by micro, small, and medium enterprises, and other producers of finished steel products.
According to the Steel Ministry, there is a very high possibility of cheap steel getting pushed into the Indian market unless adequate measures are put in place for import of quality steel.
'It is to be noted that if intermediate inputs (which form the core of finished products like HR coil, CR coil or coated steel) are not BIS compliant and are substandard, the final product cannot be BIS compliant,' the ministry added.
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