Did you know that using steel doors instead of wooden or fiberglass doors reduces your impact on the planet by 40%?

World Environment Day is annually celebrated on the 5th of June. It is the United Nations’ principal vehicle for encouraging awareness and action for the protection of our environment.

While this year’s World Environment day has been uneventful thanks to the pandemic with muted programs and initiatives in India; we stand at a crossroads of exciting possibilities in the future.

Steel doors in buildings, historically:

The use of steel or metal doors in commercial and residential buildings in the Western world has been around for more than a century. Some of the largest manufacturers in the world were established around the early 20th century. These doors were favoured amongst builders for their robustness, ease of maintenance, and longevity. In Asia, Japan, South Korea, and even China have invested in a big way, and now have manufacturers with capacities of 1 million+ doors, per annum.

Residential high-rises as having steel doors for both industrial and domestic use are now quite common in these countries. So the question is, what can be ensured to make Steel doors an acceptable alternative to Timber wood, Chipboard, and Plywood doors in our country. And, what can we learn from their experience as to how Government regulations, taxation, and Incentivising usage have worked as the primary drivers in these countries?

Like all initiatives that are on a national scale, the assistance and active participation of the Government is an unavoidable and necessary factor for success. Therefore, the success of other Green Initiatives like Solar Power, Wind Power, and Electric Cars all have active government participation, legislation, and monetary incentives to propagate the usage and thereby also ensuring private investments flow in that direction.

The steel door industry in India is hardly 2 decades old and has grown immensely in certain application areas namely Fire Safety & Security. It has found favour in high-traffic commercial areas both private and public buildings. Lately, Educational institutions, Healthcare, Pharma, and Housing have been more inclined towards using steel doors, as well. We are now at the cusp of a new revolution, with Steel becoming a favoured choice amongst developers, architects, and decision-makers. If this trend were to continue, the impact on our environment is immeasurable as the number of trees and forests saved and timber imports reduced is tremendous. The positive results will be evident for everyone to witness.

What can possibly stop this march forward?

The globalization wave has seen some resistance since 2018 with many countries imposing import restrictions and import duties on specific materials and products to protect their own industries from possible closure. While this seemingly protective attitude to local industry seems positive, the unintended consequence is, higher local prices for raw material (hurting downstream industries) including Steel, partly because the “protection” also subsidizes inefficiencies of local players and reduces the import of cheaper raw material.

India has been no exception to this and Steel imports have tariff barriers imposed; allowing local players to hike prices to a level that is hurting the majority of downstream industries making them impractical.

The Covid-19 pandemic has made it worse with prices showing historical highs of 50% hikes over the preceding years. This is turn makes Steel products including Doors , more expensive than traditional materials which acts as a de-growth for this nascent industry.

What can be done to save this industry?

GST rates on Steel doors are at 18%, the highest slab!

While the author is not a votary for Zero taxation, a more congenial regime of taxation to begin with say 5% and a slow rate increase based on industry maturity will make this a sustainable industry with the ability to compete with the best internationally. Furthermore, instead of mere slogans, an aggressive push supported by the Government legislation mandating the use of steel doors for all mass housing, government buildings, hospitals, and the likes would spur this industry to new heights.

In addition, Steel has to be made available to the door industry at international prices, in order to make the products an attractive alternative to other substitutes.

Reduction of import duties is one step,as would be the reduction of the minimum import price (MIP) on steel sheets and coils.

The overall market for doors in India is estimated at 27 million, per annum with a growth of 20%, year after year. Imagine the environmental impact, if construction industry chooses Steel doors over timber and wood! The forests saved for our future generations would have worth the effort!