Indian solar energy industry remains divided even as the government has moved closer to a decision on whether or not to impose anti-dumping duty on imports of solar cells and modules from China, Malaysia and Taipei.
The Directorate General of Anti-dumping and Allied Duties (DGAD) has called a hearing for its anti-dumping investigation into solar equipment from these countries on December 12. The hearing, to be chaired by additional secretary Sunil Kumar, was first scheduled for November 30, but has been postponed on request from legal representatives of the domestic industry, DGAD said in a notice on Tuesday.
The authority had initiated the investigation in July after manufacturers body Indian Solar Manufacturers Association (ISMA) filed a petition arguing that import of solar equipment from China, Taiwan and Malaysia is hurting the domestic industry.
Solar project developers, however, are concerned that their costs will rise if the government imposed anti-dumping duty on imported solar equipment, and make recently signed projects unviable as prices of imported cells and modules may shoot up.
According to Economic Times, Sanjay Aggarwal, managing director at solar power developer Fortum India said “Antidumping duty would not help the country in long run as the additional duty shall increase solar power tariffs and reduce demand for solar power from discoms who are the ultimate buyer of this electricity.”
“While the petitions would be taken up on merit and outcome will be based on data provided, such duties if levied should be exempt from projects already under construction or awarded,” he said. “A suitable policy should enable this instead of developers second guessing the outcomes,” Aggarwal said.
Domestic equipment manufacturers, however, argue that an anti-dumping duty structure will provide them a level-playing field to compete with Chinese and southeast Asian counterparts.
Ratul Puri, chairman at independent power producer Hindustan Power, said anti-dumping duty will cause little impact on the solar industry, and instead help create a robust manufacturing ecosystem in the country.
Vinay Rustagi, managing director at solar consultancy firm Bridge to India, said an anti-dumping duty will help domestic manufacturers, but a 20-30 percent duty could push solar tariffs up by 50 paise per unit in the upcoming auctions. Also, solar power projects signed few months back may face the risk of being abandoned, he said.
