PPMAI Writes To PM And Steel Minister For Withdrawal Of Quality Control Order On Stainless Steel

Requests Government To Consult Capital Goods And Industrial Sector As The Order Is More Of Technical Barrier To Free Global Trade
Mumbai, May 21, 2016: Process Plant and Machinery Association of India (PPMAI) and apex body representing the Process Plant Manufacturers in the country have sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Steel Minister Narendra Singh Tomar’s intervention for withdrawal of propose quality control order on Steel including Stainless steel proposing mandatory standards in the stainless steel flat product segment.

“ We need your quick help in avoiding a serious catastrophic situation due to expected issuing of Quality control order on steel and steel products by Union Ministry of Steel enforcing mandatory registration with BIS certificate and prohibiting manufacture, import, storage, sale and distribution of 16 steel products including stainless steel by trade and industry without such registration. “ said Mr Ramachandran.

“In a letter to Government including Prime Minister process Plant and Machinery industry have sought withdrawal of the Quality Control Order and urged the steel ministry to opens a dialog with the domestic stainless steel manufacturing industry to ascertain how much do they produce as per BIS and whether they also support this draft order. More over the matter needs re-examination since the proposed Quality Control Order has serious implications on trade and industrial growth as well as health and safety of crores of consumers in India.” Said Mr V.P.Ramachandran, Secretary General, PPMAI.

“For the government, seeking the end user perspective should be the priority. The draft Quality Control order will discourage investment in key manufacturing sectors since BIS standards are not comprehensive and updated. Such an order can be termed as a barrier, ill-conceived without consent of stake holders. Why should the government attempt this when there is no complaint from the industrial end users on doing and growing business globally and domestically with compliance of International standards. India has already imposed high level of import duties on steel in the current fiscal year and there are a host of anti-dumping duties in place. Excessive protectionism for a basic and intermediate goods sector can lead to withdrawal of manufacturing at higher value segments..” Mr Ramachandran Said.

“The value added segment of industry uses stainless steel as per international standards. In the industrial sector, no company buys stainless steel as per Indian standards nor do the designers specify use of stainless steel as per Indian standards. In effect there is no demand for stainless steel as per Indian standards. Government should investigate if the domestic stainless steel producers are producing stainless steel for industrial sector as per Indian standards. All PSUs in energy, be it nuclear , thermal or solar or gas based ,buy stainless steel as per international standards. Railways buys as per international or RDSO standards, and all our members of PPMAI also buy as per international standards.” he added.

“It is very clear that process plant and Machinery industry sector is well organized as per international standards and does not need to use the BIS standards as mentioned in the quality control draft order schedule. Present BIS standards need alignment with international standards. Our standards are old and do not include hundreds of new grades which are being used globally. In the absence of Indian standards for those international standards/grades, applying BIS will mean loss of business which will kill the industry and the demand. The non availability of materials as per global standards will make the value added segment unviable to compete globally on quality” he added

“We appeal that the matter needs re-examination since the Quality Control Order has serious implications on trade and industrial growth as well as health and safety of citizens.