India prepares for final round of fight against US over tariffs on its steel

India has entered the final stage of litigation with the United States at the World Trade Organization (WTO) over the imposition of high import duties on its steel.

Major Indian steelmakers such as Tata Steel, Jindal Steel and Essar Steel have lost their competitiveness in the US market due to severe punitive duties, so-called countervailing duties, imposed on hot rolled flat carbon steel products.

Legal experts are working on resolving disputes and must submit their final report. The United States introduced taxes to offset government subsidies on steel over the past decade. The duties for Indian companies range from 18 percent for Essar Steel and over 500 percent for companies such as Tata Steel and Jindal Steel.

As a result, the export of carbon steel to the United States was completely stopped due to duties. India is the fourth largest steel producer in the world with a capacity of 8.12 million tonnes in 2013. In its WTO petition, India challenged the US Department of State that iron ore is being fed to Indian public sector steelmakers NMDC at a subsidized interest rate because they are government-owned.

In an interim dispute resolution report earlier this month, the WTO acknowledged India's arguments, but further elaborates. "The interim report was more in our favor than in the US, but there are some issues raised by the WTO that we need to answer reasonably to get a final verdict in our favor," said an Indian official.