New Delhi: The Central government's retroactive anti-dumping duties on steel products of foreign firms got a shot in the arm on Monday with the Supreme Court observing that such a levy was in national interest.
Favoring the protectionist measure, a bench led by Justice A K Sikri said that the government has done the right thing by bringing in the anti-dumping duty on some steel products.
"The entire steel industry would have been killed otherwise...in the last three-four years, not just India but the whole world has been shaken by China dumping the surplus across the globe," observed Justice Sikri.
The judge added that countries have been compelled to devise measures to protect their domestic industries. "We think the government is doing the right thing by levying duties if you want to dump your steel products. What's wrong with this? You must pay up. This is important for protecting domestic industries," said Justice Sikri.
The observations by the judge came as it heard a batch of appeals in connection with anti-dumping duty on hot rolled (HR) and cold rolled (CR) steel.
The move aimed at providing protection to domestic industry in the face of severe competition from cheaper imports.
The anti-dumping duty (ADD) cover countries like Japan, China, Korea Brazil, Indonesia and Russia and Ukraine. Anti-dumping duty is WTO compliant and is expected to give the industry a cushion against imports for the next five years.
The bench allowed appeals by Commissioner of Customs, which had sought to impose anti-dumping duty on M/S Mascot International.
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