Nifty Metal Stocks Gain After Ministry Of Finance Imposes 12 Per Cent Duty On Select Steel Goods

JSW Steel Share Price: Shares of domestic metal manufacturing companies surged in trade on April 22. The stocks gained following an announcement by the Centre to impose a 12 per cent provisional safeguard duty on certain steel products.

JSW Steel, Tata Steel, Vedanta Shares Surge

The Nifty Metal index also surged 1.5 per cent to trade at an intraday high level of 8783.4 following the announcement. Nifty Metal heavyweights such as JSW Steel Ltd, Tata Steel Ltd, Hindalco Industries Ltd and Vedanta Ltd gained up to 1 per cent in early trade, pushing the Nifty Metal index higher. Among the major constituents, JSW Steel's share price increased significantly in early trade as it gained over 2 per cent to trade at an intraday high of Rs 1060.4 apiece on the NSE.

Other Major Gainers

Among the constituents of the index, shares of Lloyds Metals And Energy Ltd gained the most as they traded higher by nearly 4 per cent to hit an intraday high of Rs 1338 apiece on the NSE. At the time of writing the stock traded higher by 3.37 per cent at Rs 1,333 apiece on the NSE. Other major gainers included Hindustan Copper Ltd and Jindal Stainless Ltd which traded higher by 1.72 per cent and 1.42 per cent on the NSE.

Other gainers included Steel Authority of India Ltd, Jindal Steel & Power Ltd, Hindustan Zinc and Adani Enterprises which traded higher by as much as 1.11 per cent. Other constituents of the index such as Adani Enterprises Ltd, National Aluminium Company Ltd, APL Apollo Tubes Ltd and Hindalco Industries, Welspun Corp Ltd traded higher by up to 0.57 per cent in early trade.

Why Is The 12 Per Cent Duty Being Imposed

Notably the 12 per cent provisional safeguard duty on certain steel products has been announced to restrict imports. The move is aimed at providing relief to domestic steel manufacturers which are likely to be affected by market disruptions caused by cheaper imports.

"...the Central Government, after considering the said findings of the Director General (Trade Remedies), hereby imposes... a provisional safeguard duty at the rate of twelve per cent ad valorem," the Finance Ministry said.

The duty on the select steel goods is expected to remain in effect for 200 days unless revoked or amended earlier. Earlier in March, the Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) urged the Centre to consider the imposition of a 12 per cent duty on some steel products.

DGTR's proposal followed its probe into the matter of rising steel imports. A probe was done to look into the rising imports of 'Non-Alloy and Alloy Steel Flat Products'. In its probe, the DGTR found that the significant increase in the imports was likely to significantly impact domestic steel products industry.

HD Kumaraswamy, the Union Minister for Steel and Heavy Industries, also commented on the development and welcomed the imposition of the duty in a post on social media platform X. He added that the imposition of such a duty is expected to protect Indian manufacturers and ensure fair competition.

"I welcome the 12 per cent safeguard duty on imported steel flat products. This will protect Indian manufacturers, ensure fair competition, and boost our domestic industry. Grateful to Hon'ble PM Shri @narendramodi avaru for his continued support towards building a self-reliant India," Kumaraswamy said in a post.