SME Times News Bureau | 30 Jun, 2017
Steel Minister Chaudhary Birender Singh on Thursday said that the
upcoming goods and services tax (GST) regime is expected to give a boost
to the sector.
"We expect the raw material cost to come down due
to GST. Under it (GST) iron ore has been placed under the five per cent
tax bracket," Singh said at a Ficci event organised here.
"The lower raw material cost will help in making the sector more competitive and boost exports."
According to Singh, even the logistics cost and the time taken for transport of steel based goods will be reduced.
"The
time and cost taken for transport is also expected to come down
substantially," Singh said at a workshop organised by Ficci on the
'National Steel Policy 2017' (NSP) and 'Policy for Providing Preference
to Domestically Manufactured Iron and Steel Products in Government
Procurement' (DMI&SP).
Singh elaborated at the workshop that
NSP 2017 and DMI&SP which lay emphasis on value addition, research
and development (R&D) and raw material security will pave the way
for an accelerated growth of the steel industry.
