Piyush Goyal urged Japanese firms to source steel from India during a roundtable with business leaders, saying Indian manufacturers produce high quality products and that India imposed a measured safeguard duty on low grade steel compared with higher levies in other markets. He noted the United States has applied a 50 per cent duty while the United Kingdom and the European Union have imposed higher charges. He said India had confined protection to lower grades while allowing higher grades to be imported freely.

He recalled that India announced a safeguard duty on certain steel products in December 2025 for three years to curb dumping from countries such as China and to shield domestic manufacturers from a supply glut. The duty was initially imposed as a temporary 12 per cent levy in April 2025 and is in force until April 2028. The schedule set 12 per cent for the first year, reduced the rate to 11.5 per cent in the second year and will lower it to 11 per cent in the third year.

He emphasised that India remains a net importer of steel and that there is ample scope to expand and even double capacity as investments flow into the sector. He said investors seek protection against dumping when they commit funds and that measured trade remedies provide that assurance. He added that he had spent the last seven years urging Japanese industry to purchase competitively priced Indian steel that meets Japanese quality standards.

He expressed concern that it was unfair for foreign firms to expect protection from trade measures while not supporting Indian producers through sourcing. He suggested Japanese companies approach the Directorate General of Trade Remedies on anti dumping and safeguard duty matters and affirmed the measures were consistent with World Trade Organization rules. He is leading a 200-member delegation and will travel to Nagoya and Osaka to lead a roadshow with Chukeiren and the Nagoya Chamber of Commerce and Industry and to engage Aichi Prefecture leadership and major automotive and steel investors.