With the opposition in a tizzy over the revelations of Mohan Guruswamy, the finance minister's former advisor, on how close to Rs 5,000 crore was virtually given away to the country's top steel producers, a look at how this happened. With the country's steel mills badly hit by cheap imports, the government formed an inter-ministerial to recommend a minimum floor price, below which no imports would be allowed on the OGL list. While the committee recommended a floor price of $247 a tonne, itself substantially higher than the prevaling global price of around $195, when the final notification came out, it gave the floor price as $302. Since domestic producers are now theoretically free to price their goods to this level, based on their current capacities, this works out to a give-away of Rs 5,000 crore. A gift which, given the way prices get passed on, will finally have to be paid by the country's citizens.