Hon’ble Union Minister of Commerce & Industry and Railways, Shri Piyush Goyal and Minister of State for Commerce & Industry, Shri Hardeep Singh Puri launched Steel Import Monitoring System (SIMS) in New Delhi on 16^th September 2019. The Commerce Secretary, Dr. Anup Wadhawan and Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), Shri Alok Chaturvedi, were also present. The system has been developed by NIC-DGFT group New Delhi in consultation with Ministry of Steel on the patter of US Steel Import Monitoring and Analysis (SIMA).

The SIMS will provide advance information about the steel to be imported in the country by the Government, the steel industry (producers) and steel consumers (importers) for effective policy interventions. In this system, the importers of specified steel products will register in advance on the web portal of SIMS providing necessary information. The registration will be online and automatic and no human intervention is required. The importer can apply for registration not earlier than 60th day and not later than 15th day before the expected date of arrival of import consignment. This automatically generated registration number will remain valid for a period of 75 days. The information about the steel imports provided by the importers on the SIMS will be monitored by the Steel Ministry.

Steel Import Monitoring System (SIMS) has been notified with effect from 1^st November 2019. The system shall require importers to submit advance information in an online system for import of 284 steel tariff lines at 8-digit HS code in order to obtain an automatic Registration Number by paying prescribed registration fee. The Importers shall also have to enter the registration number and expiry date of Registration in the Bill of Entry to enable Customs for clearance of consignment. The SIMS will be effective from 1^st November 2019, i.e., Bill of Entry on or after 1^st November 2019. The facility of online Registration will be available with effect from 16^th September 2019.