Japan, South Korea urge India to ease steel import regulations

Japan and South Korean officials on Monday raised concerns about Indian regulations, saying they are facing hurdles in shipping steel products into the domestic market.

Speaking at an event organised by the Ministry of Steel, the government representatives sought Indian government intervention on measures such as quality control orders (QCOs), safeguard duties, and other import restrictions.

Speaking with journalists later, the representatives said there is no country-specific bias and shipments with inadequate documentation are being deterred.

“…taking this opportunity, I would like take to your attention to a small problem, which is that Korean companies, usually, mostly in general, enjoy very good activities. But from time to time, they encounter some regulatory hurdles,” South Korea Ambassador to India Lee Seong-ho said at ‘Interaction with Ambassadors for International Collaboration in Steel Sector’ dialogue.

The country has been and will continue to be a major and reliable partner in India’s steel sector journey, the representative said, adding that a major Korean company is looking to expand their operation together with one of India’s major companies.

Takashi ARIYOSHI, Deputy Chief of Mission, Japan, said companies from the island nation are already very active in India.

“We really want this forum to listen to Japanese companies, because Japanese companies are very active in India, but are also facing some problems,” he said.

One instance is a QCO for intermediate steel products. Although the final products have already been certified, because of this QCO, additional certification was required and Japanese companies are facing real problems because of this matter.

The dialogue was organised in the run-up to Bharat Steel, which is being convened under the aegis of the Ministry of Steel on April 16-17.

Steel Secretary Sandeep Poundrik said the event is expected to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and attended by various Union ministers and captains of the industry.

The two-day event aims to attract investments into the domestic steel industry, forging technology collaborations, and efforts to be taken for raw material security for future needs.