By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, December 28, 2015 : Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL) chairman Naveen Jindal on Monday urged the Odisha government to rationalise duty on steel-making industries which are passing through a bad phase and incurring losses in the state.

Mr Jindal pleaded for fixation of a minimum import price and imposition of WTO compliant tariff barriers to help curb the spate of cheap steel imports into the country from China, Japan and Korea.

“Both the central government and state government should take steps for sustenance of steel industries in the state and across the country. If the governments don’t provide appropriate supports, plants would be shut down and lakhs of people would lose jobs and livelihoods,” said Jindal after meeting state chief secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi.
He made it clear that the steel industry in India was passing through a very difficult phase due to dumping of steel into the country by China, Japan and Korea.

“China, Japan and Korea are dumping steels in Indian markets at prices much less than raw material. In this kind of scenario, it is too difficult for domestic steel industries to sustain themselves. We hope the Centre would realise the gravity of the situation and fix the minimum import price as well as implement the WTO compliant tariff barriers,” Jindal said.
He informed that the domestic steel producers had made representation to the Government of India on the crisis and hoped that the Centre would take necessary actions soon.

JSPL, which has steel unit in Odisha’s Angul, is running on losses every month. Unless the situation improves, it would be forced to cease production that would lead to layoff, he said.
Stating that 90 per cent of the sponge iron factories in Odisha had shut down, the JSPL chairman said immediate efforts should be made to ensure supply of raw material to these units at competitive prices.

“The state government is imposing same duty on low grade fines and high grade lumps, which is very unfair and this must change. The government must follow the rules of IBM and charge duty accordingly,” he said.

He also expressed inability to contribute to the water conservation fund (WCF) created by the state government.
The government has decided that the industries using more than or equal to 5 cusec of water will have to make one time contribution of Rs.2.5 crore per cusec of water additional to be allocated to them.

According to an estimation made by the water resources department, the government could generate about Rs.1,000 crore under the WCF as about 100 industries require water more than five cusec of water every year.

On auctions of an iron ore block notified by the state government, he said it was welcome step. “But so far, only one block has been notified. More iron ore blocks need to be notified for auctions,” he observed adding that his company would bid for the auctioned blocks depending on suitability, he said.

The JSPL chairman said the company, despite the adverse market condition, was committed to expansion of the Angul steel plant.

“The first phase of the Angul plant is completed. The plant capacity would be expanded to 3.5 million tonne per annum (mtpa) by the end of 2016 and six mtpa by March 2018, he informed.