Steel and Steel Products Quality Control Order 2024: what it covers, which entries are suspended, and how steel imports clear in 2026

It is the Ministry of Steel order that makes BIS certification compulsory for most primary and semi-finished steel sold in or imported into India. The current version is the Steel and Steel Products (Quality Control) Order, 2024, issued as S.O. 3716(E) dated 29 August 2024 and published in the Gazette on 30 August 2024. It replaced an earlier 2024 order, S.O. 574(E) of 5 February 2024^[1].

The idea is not new. The first Steel and Steel Products order was S.O. 756(E) of 14 February 2020, and it was replaced four times during 2020 before the 2024 versions arrived^[6]. If you have an old consultant note that quotes a 2020 schedule, treat it as out of date.

The order does three things:

• Schedule 1 products must carry the ISI mark. Each listed product must conform to its Indian Standard and bear the Standard Mark under a BIS Scheme-I licence^[1].
• Every consignment needs a marked test certificate. The licensed mill issues a test certificate bearing the Standard Mark, and it must go with each consignment^[1].
• Some downstream goods must use certified steel. Schedule 2 goods, such as transformer cores and tin-plate cans, must be made from BIS-marked input steel^[1].

BIS is the certifying and enforcing authority, and breaches are punishable under section 29 of the BIS Act^[1].

The licence behind the mark is the same Scheme-I ISI mark licence used for consumer goods, and foreign mills get it through FMCS. For the bigger picture of how QCOs work, see what a Quality Control Order is.

Schedule 1 has 151 entries. Each one names an Indian Standard, the ITC(HS) codes and an implementation date. Schedule 2 adds 7 goods made from steel^[1]. The broad families are:

• Flat products. Hot rolled and cold rolled sheet, plate and strip, galvanised and pre-painted sheet, electrical steels (CRGO and CRNO) and tin plate.
• Long products. Rebars, structural sections, wire rods and many grades of wire.
• Stainless steel. Sheet, strip, bars, wire rod and wire.
• Special and alloy steels. Tool steels, spring steels, forging stock and heat-resisting steels.
• Ferro alloys. Ferronickel, ferromolybdenum, ferrovanadium and others added in 2024.

Schedule 2 is narrower but catches importers by surprise. It covers transformer stampings and cores made from certified CRGO, CRNO or amorphous strip (under a Scheme-IV certificate of conformity), stainless steel pipes and tubes made from certified stainless input, and tin plate or tin free steel goods such as drums, cans, caps and closures, sign-plates and primary cell parts^[1].

The order does not apply to steel made in India for export that meets a foreign buyer's specification^[1]. There is no equivalent relief for imports.

The order lists ITC(HS) codes for every entry, mostly in Chapter 72 (iron and steel) and some in Chapters 73, 83 and 85 for Schedule 2 goods. But the order itself says those codes are generic and indicative, and that it applies only to steel and steel products covered by the listed Indian Standards^[1].

In practice that cuts both ways:

• A listed HS code does not automatically mean your grade is covered. If your grade is not made to any listed Indian Standard, it may be a non-QCO grade.
• An unlisted HS code does not mean you are safe. If the product is made to a listed standard, the order applies whatever code you declare.

The Ministry of Steel's own import system reflects this split. Non-QCO grades are mapped on the Steel Import Monitoring System (SIMS) portal, and importers generate SIMS numbers for them directly^[4]. Get the grade, the standard and the HS code to agree before the goods ship. A first screen of your code against all QCOs is available in the HS code approval finder; our HS code glossary entry explains why the 8-digit line matters at the port.

The 2024 order is the big one, but it is not the only steel order. Check these too:

Two other pages overlap. Stainless utensils and sinks are covered on the cookware QCO page, and the steel wire rope order sits alongside the fibre rope order on the textile QCO page. Machine builders who worried about the 2024 machinery omnibus order can read why it was rescinded on the machinery safety page.

The steel order has changed more often than almost any other QCO. The table lists the changes that matter to importers in 2025 and 2026.

Two amendment orders have switched off parts of Schedule 1 without deleting them. The entries are still in the order, but they are "not operative" for a set period.

November 2025 (S.O. 5134(E)). Forty-two entries were made inoperative for three years and thirteen for one year, each counted from gazette publication^[2]. The order lists only serial numbers. Matching them to the 2024 schedule, the one-year group is IS 6528 stainless wires, IS 6603 stainless bars and flats, IS 3748 tool steels, IS 16585 amorphous strip, and IS 9476, IS 6529, IS 9294, IS 10631, IS 14652, IS 4432, IS 13387, IS 3930 and IS 13352^[14]. The three-year group includes IS 5872 box strapping, IS 6527 stainless wire rod, the ferro alloys IS 4409, IS 1469 and IS 1466, and many special-purpose wires such as umbrella-rib, spoke, needle and heald wire^[14]. These mappings are Comploa's reading of the schedule, so confirm your serial number against the gazette text.

June 2026 (S.O. 3300(E)). Entry 23 (IS 2879, mild steel for welding electrodes) and entry 129 (IS 5518, die-block steels) were suspended for three years. Entries 51, 52 and 53, the stainless sheet and strip standards IS 5522, IS 6911 and IS 15997, were suspended up to 31 March 2027^[5].

Watch the one-year group now. On its own terms the one-year suspension ends about a year after gazette publication, so around late November 2026. We found no extension as of 1 November 2026^[14]. If you import stainless wire, stainless bars or tool steel, check the Ministry of Steel and BIS pages before your next shipment.

Not for steel outside the QCOs. From October 2023 the Ministry of Steel asked importers to obtain a clarification or No Objection Certificate before importing grades not covered by any QCO. On 20 November 2025 it dropped that requirement. All non-QCO grades are now mapped on the SIMS portal, and importers generate SIMS numbers for them without asking the ministry^[4].

For grades that are covered, the rule is strict: they may be imported only from a manufacturer holding a valid BIS licence for that grade. If you want to import a covered grade from a mill without a licence, you need an exemption. A committee of BIS, DGFT and domain experts, set up by an order of 14 May 2020, examines those applications, which are filed at sims.steel.gov.in/QCOEXEMPTIO^[4].

Some older consultant pages still describe a per-consignment NOC for every steel import. That describes the 2023 to 2025 regime, not the current one.

Beyond the suspended entries, the Ministry of Steel has used short, dated exemption orders. Most turn on the Bill of Lading shipped-on-board date.

• Listed HS codes. An order of 20 November 2025 exempted listed ITC-HS codes (such as IS 1161 and IS 1239 steel tubes) for imports shipped on or before 31 March 2026^[12]. On 8 April 2026 it was extended to B/L dates up to 30 June 2026^[10]. As of 1 November 2026 the ministry's QCO page lists no later extension^[15], so treat this relief as expired unless a new order appears.
• Stainless flat products. Input-adherence relief for IS 6911, IS 5522 and IS 15997 flats ran to B/L dates up to 31 March 2026^[13] and was then extended to 30 September 2026^[11]. A separate order of 27 April 2026 gave a temporary QCO exemption for stainless products under IS 6911, IS 5522, IS 15997 and IS 14650^[9]; trade press reported a B/L cut-off of 26 October 2026 for it, which we have not confirmed in the order^[16].
• Semi-finished stainless. On 28 October 2026 the ministry exempted 162 grades of semi-finished stainless steel under IS 14650 until 31 March 2027, in line with the S.O. 3300(E) suspension of the stainless flat standards^[8].
• Committee exemptions. Case-by-case exemptions for covered grades from non-licensed mills, through the SIMS exemption page^[4].

None of these is a general small-business exemption. We found none in the steel orders.

No MSME exemption appears in the steel orders we reviewed, and no sell-off period for unmarked stock. Small mills get only the general BIS fee concession: from 17 March 2026 to 31 May 2029 the minimum marking fee is cut by 80% for micro and 50% for small enterprises^[17]. That helps Indian producers, not importers.

For imports, the timing rules are the dated Ministry of Steel exemptions keyed to the Bill of Lading shipped-on-board date (see the relief section above). Note the date on the B/L, not the Bill of Entry, is what those orders test^[10]. Non-conforming steel that cannot be cleared must be disposed of as scrap rather than sold as conforming steel^[1].

Yes. The Steel and Steel Products QCO 2024 was not among the orders rescinded in late 2025. Those rescissions hit non-ferrous metals, such as the aluminium, copper and nickel orders withdrawn on 13 November 2025^[18], and chemicals and polymers. The steel order was amended instead, with 55 entries suspended in November 2025^[2] and five more in June 2026^[3].

So the practical status, as of 1 November 2026, is:

• Most of the 151 Schedule 1 entries, including mainstream flat and long products, are enforceable.
• The suspended entries are not enforceable until their suspension periods end.
• The one-year suspensions from November 2025 are due to end around late November 2026 unless extended^[14].

For the cross-sector view of what changed, see the QCO tracker and new rules for 2026. The QCO deadline checker and our QCO orders dataset track the suspension end dates; the wider 2026 picture is in QCO changes in 2026.

The licence sits with the mill, not with you. A foreign mill applies to BIS under the Foreign Manufacturers Certification Scheme (BIS FMCS). Use these steps.

Through FMCS. The mill applies online on Manakonline, since hard-copy applications stopped on 31 May 2026^[20], and nominates an Authorised Indian Representative^[20]. BIS visits the plant, checks manufacturing and testing infrastructure and draws samples for independent testing^[21]. BIS says the average grant time is generally six months from a complete application^[21].

The fees are the same as for Indian Scheme-I licensees, plus per-diem, travel, visa and insurance costs for BIS officers and a Rs 10,000 contingency payment^[22]. After grant the mill gives BIS a USD 10,000 Performance Bank Guarantee^[21]. For the full breakdown, see FMCS fees; for the portal, see Manakonline. The mill's Authorised Indian Representative handles BIS correspondence in India, and BIS samples are tested only in BIS or recognised labs in India^[23], such as those on BIS labs in Mumbai and Pune. Many mills hire a BIS consultant for the file.

Search the licence on BIS's records and match the standard, grade and plant. The general method is in how to verify a BIS licence.

Trade remedies run alongside the QCO and change the landed cost, not the BIS rule. A safeguard duty on non-alloy and alloy flat products (HS 7208 to 7212, 7225, 7226) applies at 11.5% from 21 April 2026 to 20 April 2027 and 11% the following year, with a CIF price floor above which it is not charged^[27]. Hot-rolled flat products from Vietnam also carry an anti-dumping duty of USD 121.55 per tonne for most producers^[28], and electrogalvanised steel from Korea and Japan has its own duty^[29].

On the supply side, Japan's FMCS list includes licensed electrical steel mills under IS 3024 and IS 648^[30], and China's includes three grain-oriented electrical steel records^[30]. See importing from Japan and importing from South Korea for country detail. Have your customs clearance documents ready, including the marked test certificate, because that is what officers ask for first; why shipments get held at Indian ports covers the rest.

A fabricator importing hot rolled coil. Mainstream flat products are in Schedule 1 and not suspended. Buy only from a mill whose licence lists the exact standard, collect the BIS-marked test certificate for each consignment^[1], and generate the SIMS number before arrival.

A trader importing stainless wire. IS 6528 stainless wire was in the one-year suspension group from November 2025^[14]. That relief is due to run out around late November 2026. Plan as if the QCO applies to shipments arriving after that unless the ministry extends it.

A transformer maker importing cores. Transformer stampings and cores are Schedule 2 goods. They need a Scheme-IV certificate of conformity and must be made from BIS-marked CRGO, CRNO or amorphous strip^[1]. The core maker's paperwork and the electrical steel mill's paperwork both matter.

A buyer of a speciality grade from a mill without a licence. You need a committee exemption before shipping^[4]. If the grade is not covered by any QCO at all, you need no exemption and no NOC^[4].

Section 17 of the BIS Act bars importing, selling or storing notified goods without a Standard Mark under a valid licence^[31]. The Steel QCO makes contravention punishable under section 29^[1], which allows imprisonment of up to two years, or a fine of at least Rs 2 lakh for a first offence and at least Rs 5 lakh for later ones, up to ten times the value of the goods^[31].

The order also says sub-standard or defective steel must be disposed of as scrap so that it is not sold as conforming steel^[1]. For an importer, the practical risk is detention at the port while the paperwork is sorted out, then re-export or scrapping if it cannot be. If you are unsure where a grade stands before you ship, ask us for a free compliance check.