Govt imposes 5% import duty on iron, steel products

After a series of meetings between Finance Minister P Chidambaram and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the capital, the government has imposed a 5% import duty on iron and steel products. The changes will come into effect on November 18. Commenting on the duty cut, Steel Secretary PK Rastogi said the government will like to see the impact of 5% steel import duty for sometime. "We will recommend a higher import duty on steel if needed," Rastogi added.

Meanwhile, the government has withdrawn from crude soyabean oil the full exemption from customs duty. It will now be subject to a basic customs duty of 20% ad valorem. There is however no change in the import duty on refined soyabean oil.

CNBC-TV18's Abhijit Neogy finds out more.

This was long expected. There has been a global softening of commodity prices, definitely on steel and crude oil. Most domestic consumers were complaining that the government should act swiftly just to ensure that there is no injury to domestic producers.

When the going was good, when the prices were skyrocketing globally, the government had actually stepped in and removed this exemption.

Industry was expecting a 10% imposition of import duty. Crude soybean is another one where the government has stepped in. We also understand that more export sops perhaps are also in the offing. These are fiscal stimuli.

What the government will perhaps now do is bring in a little bit of monetary action. This is something we have been hearing from India Inc and also picking up from our sources. That is essentially because whatever response has to happen, it has to be a coordinated response. Fiscal response has happened.

We understand that the RBI after the assessment by the PM Committee yesterday will perhaps soon take action.