India's steel minister H D Kumaraswamy will try to convince the finance ministry to ensure that steel tariffs are increased to 10-12% from the current 7.5%, to protect the domestic industry from being harmed by cheap imports from countries such as China.

India is the world's second-largest crude steel producer, and it became a net importer of steel in the fiscal year that ended in March, a trend that continued in the first four months of the fiscal year starting in April.

China was India's largest steel exporter from April to July, with exports of approximately 807,000 tons of steel. China was followed by Japan and South Korea.