PPMAI writes to PM on Withdrawal of draft stainless steel quality control order

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 recent draft stainless steel quality control order proposing mandatory standards in the stainless steel flat product segment.

"In a letter to Government including Prime Minister process Plant and Machinery industry have sought withdrawal of the draft 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 draft 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. Furthermore the devaluation of rupee from INR 46 to a dollar to almost INR 67 to a dollar now is in itself a great cushion to the stainless steel manufacturers in India. 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.

"The demand from industrial segment is in India is around 35 % of the total stainless steel demand in the country. The balance demand for stainless steel is ABOUT 65% from the consumer segment which should actually be a source of major worry for the steel ministry since this sector does not conform to any international standards. The trade market is flooded with substandard materials as well as proprietary grades which are not conforming to any international or BIS standards. The quality control order excludes these major demand of non-standard grades from applicability thus exposing crores of innocent consumers to risk on health and safety. This will derail Make in India campaign of the Prime Minister and the vision of Zero Defect and Zero Effect" Ramachandran said.

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

Source : Equity Bulls

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