Piyush Goyal urges Japanese firms to source steel from India

Tokyo: Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal has urged Japanese firms to source steel from India and asked how could India be expected to protect foreign companies from trade measures when they do not support Indian domestic producers by sourcing from the country.

He also said that India has taken a balanced approach by imposing the safeguard duty only on lower grades of steel, and higher grades can be imported from India freely.

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“Those steel products that are manufactured in India, why do you want to import from Japan?” Goyal said.

Highlighting that he has been urging Japanese industry over the last seven years to source from India especially those steel products that are competitively priced and meet Japanese quality standards, he said:

“Even if they are cheaper or of the same quality as Japanese steel...somehow they do not buy from India”.

Questioning how India could be expected to protect foreign companies from trade measures when they do not support Indian domestic producers by sourcing from the country, Goyal said: “It is a matter of concern for me…that is not a fair trade.”

He suggested the Japanese firms to approach the directorate general of trade remedies on the antidumping and safeguard duties related issues.

Goyal said countries across the world are experiencing surplus steel capacity and are consequently taking safeguard measures to protect their domestic industries. Indian industry has flagged concerns about excess capacity of steel in countries like China.

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In December 2025, India extended 12% safeguard duty on imports of certain steel products for three years to curb dumping from countries like China and protect domestic manufacturers.

“India, even today, is a net importer of steel. So we have enough scope to expand our capacity, in fact double our capacity and people are investing money. When they are investing money, they want protection, so that tomorrow they do not face dumping,” Goyal said.

He said that India imposed only a 12% safeguard duty on low-grade steel compared to 50% levied by the US.