Association of Indian Forging Industry (AIFI) requested the government to support the sector and enable firms to compete effectively in the global markets.
Among other things, the industry body asked the government to promote value added products and ban export of higher grade iron ore, if not all iron ore grades.
AIFI said the price of domestic steel must match international prices, especially China’s, for which steel companies should not have the excuse of adequate right quality iron ore availability at reasonable rate within the country.
The association wants the government to take steps to facilitate reasonable pricing of inputs such as costs of fuels, power and labour.
In a statement, AIFI said the Indian forging industry has kept abreast with the domestic manufacturing sector’s demand, yet exporting significant quantities despite surging input costs of fuels, power and labour charges during the past months of the financial year.
The association said companies in the sector miss export orders owing to higher Indian steel prices compared to others. AIFI further said excise duty and service tax rates, which were increased in the last two Budgets from 8 percent to 12 percent, need to be rolled back.
The industrial growth has significantly fallen. Owing to low capital investment and high inflation, demand for indigenous goods and services is affected adversely, it said.
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