New 12% Tariff: India Moves to Shield Steel Industry from China Dumping

India is set to levy a 12% safeguard duty on steel imports to shield its local steel sector from an influx of cheaper imports, primarily from China, South Korea, and Japan, as per a high-level government source, as reported by Reuters.

The move, to be made shortly, comes after a recommendation from the Directorate General of Trade Remedrices in March 2025 following an in-depth probe into the effect of cheap imports on Indian producers.

India's Steel Imports: Govt Action

The DGTR initiated an investigation in December 2024 to determine if these low-cost imports were harming the domestic industry. In turn, it recommended a 12% ad-hoc tariff on certain steel products for 200 days.

“There is clarity that the duty would be 12%, and a decision is expected at the earliest. Even though the final approval rests with the Ministry of Finance, industry players and trade analysts anticipate an announcement in the near future"  the government source said.

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India's Steel: Imports at Nine-Year High

India, the world's second-largest crude steel producer, became a net importer of finished steel for the second consecutive year. Provisional FY2024–25 data indicates that imports of steel increased to a nine-year high of 9.5 million metric tons.

From April 2024 to January 2025, China, South Korea, and Japan imported 78% of all the finished steel imported into India. This has hampered the businesses of most of the small and medium-sized Indian steel plants, compelling some of them to reduce operations and make plans for redundancies.

Steel Imports: Domestic Players Support

Major Indian steel producers such as JSW Steel, Tata Steel, SAIL, and ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India have backed the proposal to apply protective tariffs. They contend that in the absence of such initiatives, cheaply priced imports might undermine India's steel sector development and employment.

With many nations now attempting to safeguard their local steel industries, India's action follows a larger worldwide pattern of global protectionism of key manufacturing industries.