Bais said the imposition of anti-dumping duty will go a long way in the revival of the domestic steel industry. However, in view of the coming assembly elections it might not be possible to take a decision in this regard immediately.

A number of sector-specific initiatives were necessary to check the downtrend in the domestic steel sector.

On the question of selling of the sick Indian Iron and Steel Company Ltd (Iisco) and Vijayanagar steel plant as proposed by the Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI), he said no detailed discussions have so far been initiated by the Steel Authority of India Ltd.

He strongly felt the need for a clearly defined single window clearance scheme for the mining sector in the country. This would also bringthe desired level of transparency and would definitely encourage the domestic as well as foreign investors for investing in this area.

The domestic steel industry is under tremendous pressure in view of large-scale dumping of steel by foreign companies over the past two years resulting in the piling up of huge stocks with all the major steel producers in the country.

Bais, however warned that it is not necessary that the imposition of anti dumping duty will always help the domestic industry noting that in the case of pig iron industry it has played the reverse role.

The imposition of an anti-dumping duty on the imported coke at the rate of Rs 1800 per tonne along with the eleven per cent additional tax has resulted in the virtual closure of the pig iron industry in the country, he added.