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The Indian Solar Manufacturers’ Association (ISMA), representing 25 domestic solar manufacturers, has said thin-film and silicon PV cells and modules imported into India are being sold at ridiculously low prices, bleeding the local industry and violating international fair trade regulations.
The Indian industry that supplies glass to domestic solar module makers is also struggling to survive due to this sorry state of affairs. Apart from the threat of job losses and financial losses to domestic manufacturers, the country is also missing out on exports, the association says.
Domestic Content Requirements (DCR) is a key objective of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) under the Government’s National Action Plan on Climate Change. Thirteen countries including the US, China, South Africa and countries in the EU and West Asia require locally manufactured equipment to be used in solar farms, thereby ensuring energy security and employment to their countrymen.
In a statement, the association said, “Recently, the European Union imposed anti-dumping duty of around 48 per cent on Chinese solar imports. The US Commerce Department too had imposed anti-dumping duty on solar-energy cells imported from China in December 2012.”
In January 2013, the Ministry of Commerce issued a gazette notification for the launch of anti-dumping investigations into imported PV cells from China, Taiwan, Malaysia and the US. ISMA is hopeful of eliminating below-cost dumping by imposition of a suitable anti-dumping tax.
Indian solar manufacturers are victims of a predatory state policy from China. More than 70 per cent of the installed PV capacity is idle. Hundreds of employees have been laid off, it said.
India has been supplying cells and modules to all major countries in Europe and Japan who have stringent quality standards and has found a ready market in these discerning countries.
The association said if the Indian Government fails to check these rising imports, the entire Indian solar manufacturing industry might face the risk of becoming dependant on imports, risking our energy security.
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