Government today imposed provisional safeguard duty of 20 per cent on import of certain categories of steel with a view to protect domestic producers from recent surge in inward shipments, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said today. “This order (imposing duty) comes into effect immediately and a notification in this regard has been issued. This duty will be applicable for a period of 200 days, during which period the inquiry would be completed by Directorate General of Safeguards,” the Minister said. The duty will apply on specified categories of steel from all countries, he said, adding “over the last few weeks there has been a sudden surge of steel import into the country and therefore DG Safeguard has embarked upon an inquiry.” He said the power of imposing provisional duty, which was used occasionally in the past also, was invoked in view of sudden surge in imports and subsequent injury to domestic producers.