The committee headed by C M Vasudev, Special Secretary (banking) has submitted its first report and the Ministry of Finance is likely to announce the package soon, government sources said.

Steel minister Naveen Patnaik had last week met Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha in this regard.

The sources said the finance ministry may be favourably inclined to increase the basic import duty or fix a minimum floor price in order to check the dumping of steel.

The sources said the floor price could work as a reference price in the absence of a trigger-price mechanism for fast track clearance of dumping cases.

The industry has been badly affected by the cheap imports especially hot rolled (HR) coils from CIS countries. Last year import of HR coils stood at 6.57 lakh tonnes, which is about half theproduction of HR coils of the largest steel producer in the country Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL).

The finance ministry may also accept the demand to reschedule repayment of loans of steel companies with some conditions in view of the severe recessionary trends in the industry, the sources said.

The steel ministry had also asked for continued funding of ongoing steel projects following the decision by financial institutions to limit exposure in the steel sector.

The continued funding is for the 14 of the 19 new projects, which are at various stages of completion. Five projects have already been completed.

The sources said the ministry's demand for reduction in excise duty on construction items, which are non-modvatable, is unlikely for the time being.

The ministry has also sought domestic funding when ever the steel companies are unable to raise funds through external commercial borrowing (ECB).