After slashing customs and excise duties on petroleum products, the government on Friday cut the import duties on non-alloy steel by five per cent and 10 per cent on ships for breaking, as part of fiscal measures to stem inflation surging towards 8 per cent.
Tabling the measures in Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Finance S S Palanimanickam also announced abolition of import duties on melting scraps for iron and steel other than stainless steel.
Today's decision will involve a revenue loss of Rs 305 crore (Rs 3.05 billion) in the current financial year.
The customs duty on non-alloy steel other than seconds and defectives have been reduced from 10 per cent to 5 per cent and the import duty on ships for breaking up has been reduced from 15 per cent to 5 per cent.
However, the notification made it clear that additional duty of customs (counter-veiling duty) would now be payable on import of such ships.
Government exempted customs duty on melting scrap on iron and steel (other than stainless steel), which at present is five per cent.