'National solar mission compliant with WTO norms'

Responding to the US’ fresh challenge to India over its national solar programme at the World Trade Organisation, New Delhi, has said its policy was compliant with multilateral trade rules.

“Our current policy is WTO compliant. We will participate in the discussions sought by the US,” Commerce Secretary Rajeev Kher told presspersons at a press conference on Tuesday.

US Trade Representative Michael Froman said on Monday his country was launching a second challenge at the World Trade Organisation against domestic sourcing requirements incorporated in India’s National Solar Mission.

The US is upset that the second phase of the mission launched recently widens the scope of items covered under the domestic sourcing requirement clause.

“India’s domestic content requirements discriminate against US exports by requiring solar power developers to use Indian-manufactured equipment instead of US equipment,” Froman said at a press conference.

India said the US move had not come as a surprise. “The US had initiated consultations on domestic content in the solar mission last year. Now they have challenged the second phase. It has not come as a surprise,” Kher said.

Although in the second phase, the Government has freed half the projects from local sourcing conditions, the US is angry because the coverage has been expanded to include solar thin films, which was mostly imported from the US during the first phase.

The Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission was launched in India in 2010 to promote generation of renewable energy and partly solve the energy shortage faced by the country.

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