As per the information received from Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics, the share of export of specified MSME related products to All India exports during 2019-20 and 2020-21 was 49.8% and 49.4% respectively.

This information was given by Union Minister for MSME Narayan Rane in a written reply in Rajya Sabha on Monday.

The MSME sector is an important sector of the Indian economy. As per the information received from Central Statistics Office, Ministry of Statistics & PI, share of the MSME manufacturing in All India manufacturing gross value output during the year 2018-19 and 2019-20 were 36.9% and 36.9% respectively.

The minister added that Government of India has taken various steps to ensure continuous supply of raw materials to MSMEs including steel. Some of the steps taken to meet the raw material demands of MSMEs in the Steel Sector.

The Government has taken various steps to increase availability of iron ore and steel which include, inter-alia, Mining and Mineral Policy reforms to ensure enhanced production and availability of iron ore, early operationalization of forfeited working mines of Odisha by the State/Central PSUs etc., besides ramping up production and capacity utilization by steel producers.

In Union Budget 2021-22, Customs Duty has been reduced uniformly to 7.5% on Semis, Flat and Long products of non-alloy, alloy and stainless steels. Further, Basic Custom Duty (BCD) on steel scrap has been exempted for a period up to 31 st March, 2022. In addition to the above, ADD and CVD on certain steel products have also been revoked / temporarily revoked.

To give relief to secondary and MSME sector steel industry engaged in Housing/construction sector, TMT bars below 8 mm have been exempted from the purview of the Quality Control Order, as these are primarily used for non-critical applications;

Ministry of Steel has also issued clarifications to CPWD, MoRTH etc., that steel produced through various routes of production using iron ore, steel scrap and DRI should be treated at par if the steel produced conforms to the relevant BIS standards.