The government imposes a safeguard duty on the import of solar cells for two years

New Delhi, July 30 (PTI) India has today imposed a safeguard duty on imports of solar cells from China and Malaysia for two years in order to protect domestic players from the sharp rise in incoming shipments of the product. the Trade Remedies Directorate General (DGTR), under the responsibility of the Ministry of Commerce.

According to the notification from the Ministry of Finance, 25 percent of customs duties were imposed from July 30 to July 29, 2019, 20 percent from July 30, 2019 to January 29, 2020, and 15 percent from January 30, 2020 to July 29, 2020.

"Having considered the said findings of the DGTR … hereby imposes the goods in issue of cells assembled or not in modules or panels) … at the time of importation into India, a right "

The DGTR concluded in its investigations that the increase in imports of solar cells in" and "threaten to cause" it will be in the public interest ". to impose a safeguard duty on imports for a period of two years, "said DGTR

It also stated that there has been a significant increase in imports of cells in absolute terms. [19659002] India produced 842 MW of solar cells in 2017-18. The period covered by the survey was 2014-2015 to 2017- 2017.

Imports of these cells increased from 1,275 MW in 2014-2015 to 9,790 MW in 2017-2018.

An application dated November 28, 2017 was filed with the DGTR on December 5, 2017 by the Indian Solar Manufacturers Association (ISMA) on behalf of five Indian producers – Mundra Solar PV Ltd., Indosolar Ltd, Jupiter Solar Power, Websol Energy Systems and Helios Photo Voltaic – for tax purposes The petitioners alleged that, due to the sharp increase in imports of these cells, many domestic producers have kept their production facilities virtually unused. and that the heavy losses paralyzed the domestic industry

. for this reason, the applicants had applied for the imposition of the provisional duty as a measure to mitigate their injury.

The DGTR's mandate is to investigate the existence of serious injury or threat of serious injury to the domestic industry. India is targeting a solar capacity of 100 gigawatts (GW) by 2022.

Solar cells, electrical devices that directly convert sunlight into electricity, are mainly imported from China, Malaysia and Japan. from Singapore. and Taiwan.

Imports of cells from these countries account for over 90% of total incoming shipments in the country. PTI RR CS BAL
BAL