India launches probe against China, Thailand and Vietnam

The discover issued by the directorate normal of commerce cures mentioned that prima facie proof of dumping was discovered towards the aforementioned product of the above international locations, resulting in damage to the home business. (Representational picture)

The commerce ministry has initiated an anti-dumping investigation towards the import of photo voltaic cells from China, Thailand and Vietnam. The investigation was triggered by an software by the Indian Photo voltaic Producers’ Affiliation (ISMA).

Photo voltaic cells are the fundamental ingredient used within the manufacturing of photo voltaic modules and Chinese language merchandise are 15-20% cheaper than their Indian counterparts.

The discover issued by the directorate normal of commerce cures mentioned that prima facie proof of dumping was discovered towards the aforementioned product of the above international locations, resulting in damage to the home business. Low module costs have performed a serious position in bringing photo voltaic tariffs all the way down to the present low of Rs 1.99/unit, however it has stored the home photo voltaic sector relied on imports and native producers have discovered it tough to promote their merchandise.

An identical anti-dumping investigation towards the import of photo voltaic cells from China, Taiwan and Malaysia was initiated by the federal government in July, 2017 however was ultimately referred to as off in March, 2018 on ISMA’s request.

To spice up home manufacturing, the Centre had imposed a 25% safeguard obligation on photo voltaic imports from China and Malaysia in July 2018 for 2 years, which was prolonged to July 2021, at a charge of 15%.

As FE reported earlier, after the safeguard obligation imposition on China and Malaysia, photo voltaic imports had since surged from Vietnam and Thailand. Between FY18 and FY20, imports of photo voltaic cells and modules from Vietnam and Thailand recorded a progress charge of 800% and 5,750%, to $136 million and $117 million, respectively. Import of Chinese language merchandise have fallen 60% to $1.3 billion in the identical interval.

Total photo voltaic imports have come down by 72% yearly in April-February FY21 to $468.5 million because of the Covid-19 restrictions, because the tempo of photo voltaic capability addition additionally dwindled to five giga-watt (GW) in the identical interval, down by about 45% yearly.

From the start of FY23, photo voltaic module and cell imports will entice a fundamental customs obligation (BCD) of 40% and 25%, respectively. Nonetheless, procurement of these things from China is seen to surge considerably within the final three quarters of FY22 as there will probably be no import limitations in place after the safeguard obligation regime ends in July. The federal government has launched the Rs 4,500-crore production-linked incentive scheme for photo voltaic module manufacturing, which analysts at India Scores mentioned, will push the gross sales of 20 GW of home product from the output capability developed below the five-year programme.

As on date, the home cell manufacturing capability is round 3 GW and module making capability is 10 GW