India not to levy anti-dumping duties on solar cells, panels

The Government will not impose anti-dumping duties on solar cells and solar panels imported from the US, China, Malaysia and Taiwan.

This is contrary to what the Commerce Ministry had recommended earlier this year.

The Finance Ministry has decided against notifying the duties that the Directorate General of Anti-Dumping (DGAD), a statutory body under the Commerce Ministry, had recommended to protect domestic manufacturers from cheap imports.

“Since the Finance Ministry has not come up with its notification within the stipulated three-month period after the DGAD submitted its recommendation, there won’t be any duties imposed on the items,” a Commerce Ministry official told BusinessLine .

The DGAD had recommended steep anti-dumping duties ranging from $0.11 to $0.81 per watt of power produced. In its report it had said this would negate the unfair advantages gained by dumping, prevent the decline of the domestic industry and help maintain availability of a wider choice to the consumers of these goods.

Domestic producers’ body Indian Solar Manufacturers Association had earlier said that more than 70 per cent of the installed PV capacity is idle in the country and hundreds of employees have been laid off because of cheap imports of solar panels, cells and glass flooding the market.

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, however, had been lobbying against the proposed duties, arguing that they would increase the cost of solar power production by at least ₹1.6 crore per MW and projects worth 4,000 MW would get stuck.

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