Top government officials, industry leaders likely to meet on May 4 to discuss EU's carbon tax

Top officials of different ministries, including those from finance, commerce and steel, as well as industry leaders are likely to meet on May 4 on European Union's move to impose carbon tax, sources said. The meeting comes amid the carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) being implemented by the European Union, which would have an adverse impact on India's exports of metals such as iron, steel and aluminium products to the EU, they said.

The meeting would be chaired by commerce secretary Sunil Barthwal.

The EU is introducing CBAM from October 1 this year. The new mechanism will translate into a 20-35 per cent tax on select imports into the EU starting January 1, 2026.

According to a report of economic think tank GTRI, from October 1, India's iron, steel and aluminium exports to European Union countries will face extra scrutiny under the mechanism.

From January 1, 2026, the EU will start collecting carbon tax on each consignment of steel, aluminium, cement, fertilizer, hydrogen and electricity.

In 2022, India's 27 per cent exports of iron, steel, and aluminium products worth USD 8.2 billion went to the EU.

GTRI co-founder Ajay Srivastva has earlier suggested that the government should consider taking steps to deal with the situation.

In the meeting senior officials from ministries including MSME, and private sector representatives from steel and alloy sector are expected to participate in a big way, one of the sources said.