(Bloomberg) -- India has imposed a 25 percent safeguard duty on solar cells from China and Malaysia, saying the overseas supplies have caused or threatened “serious injury” to domestic manufacturers.
The safeguard duty will be applicable for two years, India’s Directorate General of Trade Remedies, a unit of of the commerce ministry, said in an order posted on its website Monday. The tariff will be lowered to 20 percent for the first half of the second year and 15 percent for the second half.
“Imposition of safeguard duty in this case would be in public interest because it will prevent complete erosion of manufacturing base of solar industry in the country,” the DGTR said in the order.
India, the largest importer of Chinese solar equipment, first proposed a 70 percent safeguard duty in January to protect its local industry. Solar project developers, who rely on overseas components, have countered that the move would jeopardize the nation’s plans to boost its use of renewable energy.
The Ministry of New & Renewable Energy estimated last year that India’s annual solar cell manufacturing capacity of 3 gigawatts means the country can only meet 15 percent of its annual 20 gigawatts of installations required to meet government targets.
To contact the reporter on this story: Anindya Upadhyay in New Delhi at aupadhyay22@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Ramsey Al-Rikabi at ralrikabi@bloomberg.net, Alpana Sarma
©2018 Bloomberg L.P.
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