The local steel industry does not seem satisfied with this sudden surprise.

Jindal Steel and Power (JSPL), India’s fifth largest crude Steel producer, may be forced to cancel orders to European buyers and suffer losses after an overnight decision to impose export duties on Steel products, managing director V R Sharma told media.

 JSPL has an export backlog of about 2 million tonnes destined for Europe, Sharma said. ”They should have given us at least 2-3 months, we didn’t know there would be such a substantial policy. This can lead to force majeure and foreign customers have done nothing wrong and they should not be treated like this.”

 Sharma said the government’s decision could raise industry costs by more than $300 million. “Coking coal prices are still very high and even if import duties are removed, it will not be enough to compensate for the impact of export duties on the steel industry.”

 The Indian Iron and Steel Association (ISA), a steelmakers’ group, said in a statement that India had been increasing its steel exports over the past two years and was likely to take a bigger share of the global supply chain. But India may now lose export opportunities and share will also go to other countries.