Saturday, May 31, 2014: Now, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has stood up against the Commerce Ministry’s recommendation of imposing an anti-dumping duty on imported solar cells. MNRE has clarified that it is not the right time for imposing the levy.
It is worth mentioning here that the Ministry of Commerce and Industry had recommended imposing of a a restrictive duty in the range of $0.11 to 0.81 per watt on solar cells imported from the US, China, Malaysia and Chinese Taipei. However, a final call on the same will be taken by the Finance Ministry. If the duty is imposed, it could provide relief for the struggling domestic manufacturers.
Commenting on the issue, Tarun Kapur, joint secretary at the MNRE, said, “We are opposing it (anti-dumping duty). From our side, we have said that it is not the right time…Because there are a lot of projects in the pipeline.”
The recommendation of imposing the duty came from the Directorate General of Anti-dumping and Allied Duties (DGAD), under the Commerce Ministry, who allegedly found cheap solar cells being dumped in India, after one-and-a-half year probe. The domestic solar manufacturers have raised their concerns about the dumping of cheap solar cells into India.
