Indian solar equipment manufacturers have once again come up in arms against solar imports, with a number of solar equipment makers demanding 30-35 percent anti-dumping duty on solar cell imports.
A group of around 25 member companies of the Indian Solar Manufacturers Association (ISMA) including Tata Power Solar, Moser Baer and Indosolar have appealed to the government against solar imports that affect the domestic suppliers adversely.
In their appeal, the companies said they have suffered a loss of Rs 1,000 crore due to the price competition from foreign suppliers. Imported panels are sold at a substantially lower price compared to indigenous solar cells. Solar panels from countries like China enjoy huge subsidies, resulting in lower costs of the products.
“The thin-film and silicon photo voltaic cells and modules imported into India from the USA and other Asian countries are being sold at ridiculously low prices bleeding the local industry and violating international fair trade regulations,” said H R Gupta, managing director, Indosolar.
According to Gupta, at least 70 percent of the solar cell capacity is idle due to cheap imports flooding the Indian market.
The price of solar cells has dropped by 40 percent in the past one year. However, Indian export market went down drastically to $80 million in 2012-13 from $500 million a year before. More than 55 percent of the solar power projects in the country are built on imported content, as it’s either cheaper or have financial backing.
This is not the first time Indian solar makers uniting against solar imports. In November 2012, a group of Indian PV makers had filed a case against imports from the U.S., China, Malaysia and Taiwan. The directorate general of anti dumping (DGAD) is likely to take a final decision in the matter in May.
To protect the interests of domestic manufacturers, the Government of India has mandated 30 percent of local equipment sourcing in the first phase of project building under Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM).
In the second phase, equal amount of projects were allocated under the domestic and non-domestic content category.
According to reports, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) is not keen to implement the anti-dumping immediately because several projects under the JNNSM program are being built on imported content. If anti-dumping duty is implemented even at the lowest level, the cost of these projects will go up by at least Rs 1.6 crore per unit.
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