Steel Ministry Extends QCO Exemptions To Ease Supply Gaps

24 Nov 2025 CW Team

To safeguard stakeholder interests and maintain steady market availability of critical steel products as domestic capacity expands under national self-reliance goals, the Ministry of Steel has reviewed concerns submitted by industry participants. Following this assessment, the Ministry has approved extensions to specific exemptions, outlined below.

Earlier, based on representations from industry, the Ministry had exempted certain Chapter 73 steel products from mandatory Quality Control Order (QCO) compliance for imports with a Bill of Lading showing a shipped-on-board date on or before 31 October 2025. This exemption has now been extended to cover imports with a shipped-on-board date on or before 31 March 2026.

In addition, stainless-steel importers had highlighted substantial advance payments already made to foreign manufacturers and the ongoing shortage of 200 and 300 series stainless-steel flat products, given that domestic capacity is still ramping up. In response, the Ministry had earlier granted exemptions from three Indian Standards applicable to stainless-steel flat products — IS 6911, IS 5522 and IS 15997 — for imports with a shipped-on-board date on or before 31 December 2025.

This exemption has also been extended, and now applies to imports with a shipped-on-board date on or before 31 March 2026.

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