India’s steel industry is not just another sector—it is the backbone of our growth story. Every bridge we build, every railway we expand, every affordable housing unit we promise depends on affordable, high-quality steel. Which is why the government’s proposal of a blanket $125-per-tonne anti-dumping duty on metallurgical coke (met coke) demands closer scrutiny.
At first glance, such a duty looks like decisive protection for domestic coke producers. But in practice, it risks undermining India’s global competitiveness in steel, raising costs for infrastructure and exports, and jeopardising our target of 300 million tonnes of capacity by 2030.
Why met coke matters
Met coke is the critical fuel that keeps blast furnaces running. But India’s problem is structural: our domestic coking coal has 25–35% ash content, far too high for modern blast furnaces. Imported premium coal has less than 10% ash and is essential for producing low-ash coke, which in turn is essential for high-quality steel.
Domestic coke plants can blend imported coal, but output is limited and mostly used captively by integrated steel mills. Standalone producers supply higher-ash material fit for foundries, not for the global-grade steel India wants to export. As a result, India imports more than 85% of its coking coal needs, and a significant share of its coke too.
What a blanket duty would do
Imposing a flat $125/t duty on imports adds around ₹2,500–3,000 per tonne to steel production costs. That’s a 4–5% hike on steel selling at ₹60,000–70,000/t. For large producers like Tata Steel, JSW, SAIL and AM/NS, this squeezes already thin margins, especially in tender-driven infrastructure markets where passing costs on is not possible.
The ripple effects would be wide:
- Railways and roads become more expensive to build.
- Affordable housing costs climb, hurting ordinary citizens.
- Automobile and appliance makers face higher input prices.
- Exports lose ground to China, Korea, and Vietnam, who already dominate the low-cost steel market.
- Secondary steelmakers and MSMEs—without pricing power—face shutdowns and job losses.
In short, what seems like protection for one small industry risks crippling the larger steel sector that underpins jobs, infrastructure, and trade.
The global context
Our peers are adopting smarter strategies.
- Europe is rolling out its Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) to subsidise its green steel transition.
- The US continues Section 232 tariffs but combines them with investment in domestic alternatives.
- China uses rebates and raw material policies to maintain its cost edge.
- Japan and Korea secure long-term offtakes and optimise logistics to stabilise input costs.
India, by contrast, is proposing a blunt tax that raises costs without offering transition support. That risks making us less competitive, not more.
A better path forward
India does need to protect against dumping, but the tool must be sharper:
- Grade-linked duty: Tax high-ash, low-quality coke heavily, but keep low-ash premium coke affordable for steelmakers.
- Quota-cum-duty system: Allow enough imports of essential grades while curbing excess supply from dumping nations.
- Lower logistics costs: Trim rail and port surcharges that inflate landed coal prices.
- Secure long-term contracts: Diversify supply from Russia, Mozambique, and Canada to reduce reliance on spot markets.
- Invest in alternatives: Incentivise scrap recycling, natural-gas-based DRI, and hydrogen pilots so that our dependence on coke falls over the next decade.
The bigger picture
India’s ambition to be a steel powerhouse cannot be achieved by short-term fixes. A blanket duty might offer temporary relief to a handful of domestic coke makers, but it will raise steel costs, inflate infrastructure budgets, and weaken our export competitiveness.
If we want to be the world’s preferred steel supplier—reliable, affordable, and increasingly green—we need calibrated, time-bound policies that balance protection with competitiveness. Anything less risks sacrificing our industrial edge for short-term political optics.
The writer, Vivek Harivyasi, is an entrepreneur and policy commentator on energy, infrastructure, and industrial transformation in India.