Steel Authority of India Ltd, the country?s second-largest producer, on Wednesday raised prices of its products by Rs 600 a tonne, chairman SK Roongta told reporters in New Delhi. The new prices are effective March 1 and follow the excise duty increase in the Budget.
?Yes, there is a price increase of about Rs 500 to Rs 600 a tonne due to the hike in the excise duty. The increase in prices is effective March 1,? Roongta told reporters on the sidelines of All India Induction Furnace Association meet here. Roongta said the hike in excise duty would result in steel prices going up.
Partially rolling back the fiscal stimulus in the Budget, the government raised excise duty by 2-10% across the board.
To spur economic activities, the government had earlier initiated massive spending programmes and slashed duties from December 2008 in three stages following the global financial crisis that began in September same year.
Steel secretary Atul Chaturvedi also said steel prices were set to go up. ?They (steel prices) will go up now. You have to decipher between inflation and recession. Companies have to earn money and this could be done only if either raw material prices go down or their steel prices go up,? Chaturvedi said.
When asked if the price rise was alarming, the steel secretary said, ?If we see steel prices in the last 30 months, the current scenario is not an alarming one.?