After slashing customs and excise duties on petroleum products, the government on Friday cut the import duties on non-alloy steel by five per cent and 10 per cent on ships for breaking, as part of fiscal measures to stem inflation surging towards 8 per cent.

Tabling the measures in Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Finance S S Palanimanickam also announced abolition of import duties on melting scraps for iron and steel other than stainless steel.

Today's decision will involve a revenue loss of Rs 305 crore (Rs 3.05 billion) in the current financial year.

The customs duty on non-alloy steel other than seconds and defectives have been reduced from 10 per cent to 5 per cent and the import duty on ships for breaking up has been reduced from 15 per cent to 5 per cent.

However, the notification made it clear that additional duty of customs (counter-veiling duty) would now be payable on import of such ships.