India considering Port-based quality testing labs to check steel imports

MUMBAI : India’s Ministry of Steel is considering setting up a quality testing laboratory at Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) in Mumbai to check imports of steel into the country, government
sources said on Thursday, December 21.

They said that this is part of plans to implement port-based checks on imports of steel where each shipment will be tested for quality and material not compliant with mandatory standards laid down by Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) will not be accorded customs clearance.

The sources said that laboratories are being proposed to be set up at each of the ports which has been seeing surge in imports like JNPT where steel imports increased 40 percent during April – October period of fiscal 2023-24, over corresponding period of previous fiscal.

Steel shipments will be randomly tested for quality standards and act as a barrier for misclassification or mis-declaration of consignments by importers and port-based scrutiny is expected to be an effective check to rising imports, the sources said.