Chennai: The steel ministry has expanded the quality standards specified for steel and steel products under QCO to inputs and raw materials used for the production of these products as well. The order has become effective from June 16.Around 151 quality standards are specified under QCO for steel and steel products. The imported goods also must be mandatorily registered in the Steel Import Monitoring System (SIMS) portal. From June 16, the same standards will be applicable for inputs imported for the production of steel and steel products. “Importers must now ensure that input materials—such as slabs, billets, or hot-rolled coils that are used to make BIS certified steel in the foreign factory, also need to adhere to the relevant BIS standard. Until now, foreign exporters of finished steel products, after having got certified by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), could export to India. Now, the raw materials used by them to manufacture the finished steel products, which have already been audited and certified by BIS Authority, also need to adhere to the relevant Indian standards,” finds GTRI. According to the industry, the abrupt implementation of QCO could disrupt supply chains and impose heavy compliance costs on MSMEs reliant on imported semi-finished steel. BIS certification for upstream suppliers can take six to nine months. Yet the Ministry has enforced the new traceability requirement with only three days’ notice and no stakeholder consultation. Importers now risk seeing their shipments declared non-compliant, even if contracts were signed months ago and goods are already in transit. Many MSMEs say they have already paid advances for steel shipments arriving between June and August. The industry finds that the policy will discourage domestic manufacturing and make it easier to import the final product than to make it in India. That defeats the goal of Make in India.
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