As the finance Minister has proposed a rollback in the standard excise duty rates which have directly impacted the prices of the non-petroleum commodities eventually persuading the steels prices to go up. The steel prices are expected to go in the tune of Rs. 600-800 a tonne with immediate effect.

The expected rise would be an additional increase for consumers, who were expecting to face more rises in the coming months on account of raw material price increase. The proposed implications on the sector will affect other industries as well such as automotives which use steel at a decent level in their products.

However, on the brighter side, Pranab Mukherjee has proposed a 75% increase in urban development allocation and roughly 46% of total plan allocation is accounted for physical infrastructure like roads, ports, airways and railways which are expected to boost the demand in the steel sector.

Analysts are of views that while the affects are long-term but it will definitely accelerate the demand in the steel sector. In the period of April-December 2009, HRC sheet imports stood at 2.59 million tonnes, while total imports were
4.3 million tonnes.