Coimbatore: The Coimbatore District Small Industries Association (CODISSIA) has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking urgent policy measures to ease steel shortages and price spikes that, it said, are straining MSME operations and threatening output in one of India’s largest engineering clusters.In its letter, the association said India’s annual steel requirement is about 160 million tonne, with nearly half consumed by MSMEs. Coimbatore is the sixth-largest steel-consuming region and uses around one million tonne. CODISSIA flagged that 2025-26 domestic output is around 150–160 million tonne, below an estimated requirement of 180 million tonne, creating shortages for smaller units.The group said primary producers offer IS 2062 grade steel at about Rs 50,000 per tonne (excluding GST), but MSMEs are forced to buy the same grade in the market at Rs 59,000–65,000 per tonne, implying a 20–30% escalation. It said imports of around 8.321 million tonne are insufficient, while import procurement attracts a cumulative duty burden of about 20% through customs duty, safeguard duty and special duty, and is further constrained by QCO-BIS compliance. For some special grades, it said anti-dumping and countervailing duties also apply.CODISSIA sought removal of customs and safeguard duties, withdrawal of mandatory BIS certification for imports, formation of a price-monitoring committee to deter hoarding and cartelisation, and a ban on steel exports to prioritise domestic supply. It also proposed a steel “raw material bank” or stockyard in Coimbatore.Separately, it sought logistics upgrades integrating road, rail and ports, and proposed an MSME rooftop and ground-mounted solar scheme with 25% capital subsidy up to 150 kW, seven-year low-interest financing with 3–4% interest subvention, and collateral-free loans.
