India DGTR Anti-Dumping Investigation Initiation: Cold Rolled Grain Oriented Electrical Steel (CRGO) and Amorphous Metal from China, Japan, Korea RP, and Russia (22 June 2026)

Mechanism

The DGTR initiated the investigation under Rule 5 of the Customs Tariff (Identification, Assessment and Collection of Anti-Dumping Duty on Dumped Articles and for Determination of Injury) Rules 1995, read with Sections 9A, 9B, and 9C of the Customs Tariff Act 1975 (as amended). The probe covers two distinct but functionally related products:

1. Cold Rolled Grain Oriented Electrical Steel (CRGO) — the silicon-steel alloy used as the magnetic core in conventional power and distribution transformers. India imports roughly 90% of its CRGO requirement; domestic producer JSW JFE Electrical Steel Nashik (est. 2022, JV between JSW Steel and JFE Steel Corp of Japan) is the sole integrated domestic CRGO producer. 2. Amorphous Metal (AM) — nanocrystalline/amorphous ribbon used in next-generation ultra-low-loss transformer cores (≈60–70% lower core losses vs. CRGO). The probe targeting AM alongside CRGO closes an instrument gap: without parallel protection, a definitive CRGO duty could accelerate substitution to imported AM, defeating the domestic industry protection intent.

The investigation is an initiation (no provisional or definitive duty has been imposed). The statutory investigation period under Rule 17 is 12 months from initiation, extendable to 18 months by the Central Government — meaning a final DGTR recommendation is expected no earlier than June 2027.

Downstream implications

• Grid-expansion cost risk: India's power-sector capital expenditure plan (National

Electricity Plan 2022-32: ~350 GW of new generation capacity) implies transformers as a sustained demand driver for CRGO. GTRI flagged that any future definitive anti-dumping duty would feed through into transformer-procurement costs for discoms and IPPs, with downstream impact on electricity tariff trajectories — particularly in States with active renewable build-out (Rajasthan, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh).

• Supply-chain exposure signal: India deliberately excluded CRGO from its 2025–26

flat-steel safeguard investigation (notified December 2025) precisely because of import dependence; an AD probe is the government's chosen instrument to protect JSW JFE without cutting off supply ahead of domestic capacity scale-up. This sequencing (PLI-protected capacity → AD investigation at initiation stage) mirrors the CRNO precedent (2021 PLI for specialty steel → 2025 definitive duty).

• Four-country scope unusual: Most Indian AD probes on electrical steel have targeted

China alone (cf. CRNO: China-only). The inclusion of Japan, Korea RP, and Russia signals either (a) the domestic industry believes import injury is diversified across origins and feared trade deflection from a China-only measure, or (b) JSW JFE's co-parent JFE Steel (Japan) consented to Japan's inclusion as part of the JV's competitive strategy — an unusual dynamic where the applicant's own parent-country is a named respondent.

• Russia as respondent: Russia's CRGO export capability is smaller than China's or

Japan's/Korea's but its inclusion alongside the standard Asian trio reflects India's DGTR practice of broadening respondent scope after the PTFE initiation (Case 6/9/2026-DGTR) also named Russia — suggesting a pattern of comprehensive-origin coverage in recent initiation notifications.

Open questions

• What HS codes did the initiation notification specify for CRGO and AM? (The case page

did not surface HS codes; check the initiation notification PDF 6/17/2026-DGTR for the full product-under-consideration definition and HS code schedule.)

• Will the DGTR impose a provisional duty at the ~6-month mark (around December 2026),

or will JSW JFE seek an extension of the investigation period?

• How will the four named respondents — including JFE Steel Corporation (Japan), the

co-parent of the applicant — submit their questionnaire responses? JFE's cooperation (or non-cooperation) with the investigation is inherently conflicted.

• What is the current domestic CRGO production capacity at JSW JFE Nashik vs. total

Indian demand? The gap determines how material any future duty really is for downstream transformer OEMs.