Govt waives BIS certification for 202 foreign steel licences to aid domestic plants

Mint

2 days ago

New Delhi: The steel ministry has exempted 202 foreign steel licences from the mandatory Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) quality certification under the Steel Import Monitoring System (SIMS) portal, in a move to ease supply bottlenecks for domestic steel producers.
Announced through an order on 8 August, the exemptions cover manufacturers from 17 countries, including Japan, South Korea, Germany, Italy, France, Russia, and the US. Japan leads the list with over 80 licences, followed by South Korea with more than 50. These countries are major suppliers of high-grade steel used in automotive, engineering, and specialised industrial applications.
The decision was taken 'in pursuance' of an 11 July directive that allows such exemptions based on self-declaration by companies, subject to BIS verification, the order said. The move is aimed at ensuring the uninterrupted availability of high-quality inputs for domestic steel producers, particularly integrated steel plants (ISPs), without delays linked to certification requirements.
'This is a continuous exercise and additional licences may be exempted as and when requests are received,' the ministry noted in the order.
The BIS quality certification requirement, introduced to curb substandard imports and support domestic steelmakers, has been flagged by industry as a cause of supply bottlenecks for certain grades of steel not produced locally. Exemptions like this help balance quality control with industrial demand, especially as India pushes to scale up manufacturing under 'Make in India' and meet infrastructure growth targets.
The government's decision will benefit major players like Japan's Nippon Steel, JFE Steel, and South Korea's Posco and Hyundai Steel. The exemptions could also help control input costs for ISPs at a time when global steel prices remain volatile.
However, trade analysts view this move as a temporary relief for the industry.
'The rationale behind such requirements remains questionable—especially when BIS certification of the final rolling mill product already ensures raw material compliance. Micro small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), which rely on rolling mills for small, flexible orders, cannot feasibly source directly from large integrated steel plants, making such upstream restrictions impractical,' said Ajay Srivastava, founder, Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI), a think tank.
In a related development, the steel ministry announced that it will hold an 'Open House' on 19 August to address industry concerns over the Steel Import Monitoring System (SIMS), Quality Control Orders (QCOs) and No Objection Certificates (NOCs) for steel imports.
Companies and industry associations will be able to present specific issues related to these regulations directly to ministry officials, as per the ministry statement issued on Monday.
India's finished steel imports fell 27.6% in the first two months of the current financial year, as shipments from China and Japan declined, as per the government's provisional data.
India, the world's second-biggest crude steel producer, imported 0.9 million metric tonnes of finished steel during April-May, the data showed, with shipments from China dropping 47.7% and from Japan falling 65.6% from a year ago.
China exported 0.2 million metric tonnes of finished steel to India during the two months, while Japan shipped 0.1 million metric tonnes during the period, the data showed.
South Korea was the top finished steel exporter to India during April-May, with shipments rising 8.2% to 0.4 million metric tonnes, the data showed.
Imports from China, Japan, and South Korea accounted for 74.4% of India's overall finished steel imports, and hot-rolled coils or strips were India's biggest imports, the data showed.