India's Steel Ministry is likely to update the country's Steel Import Monitoring System (SIMS) by eliminating the requirement for consignment declarations, government sources said on Thursday, November 20.
The relaxation is aimed at easing the compliance burden for steel consumers in micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) by allowing single registration of up to 1,000 tonnes of imports per year per plant, it said sources.
SIMS was introduced in 2019 to improve traceability of different grades of steel entering the country, with further tightening of procedures in 2024. However, importers reported that mandatory paperwork for each shipment often slowed down the clearance process.
The weakening of SIMS will reduce clearance time at ports for steel shipments by significantly reducing the number of data entry fields required in the system, sources said.
