India’s tariff to protect its solar power industry from China and Malaysia has failed, as Vietnam and Thailand fill the void

India, which overtook Japan as China’s biggest solar panel export market in 2017, has been struggling to promote its domestic manufacturing industry

However, local producers can meet just 15 per cent of the country’s annual requirement, according to government estimates

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Indian farmers work near a newly installed water pump that relies on solar power. Photo: EPA

Published: 11:54am, 30 Jan 2019Updated: 11:59am, 30 Jan 2019

India’s bid to protect its solar-equipment makers by imposing a safeguard duty on cheap, Chinese imports has failed, according to domestic manufacturers, who are campaigning for tougher measures.

The country last year imposed a 25 per cent tariff on solar cells and modules imported from China and Malaysia for two years. That has resulted in developers either stalling projects to circumvent the two-year time frame or sourcing cheap imports from Southeast Asia, according to the Indian Solar Manufacturers Association (ISMA) and several of its members companies.

“There is a duty, yet it’s not fulfilling its role,” said Jupiter Solar CEO Dhruv Sharma, who is also a member of ISMA’s governing council. “No new manufacturers came in, new capacity hasn’t come in, people are shutting shop, employment hasn’t been generated.”

More stringent measures are needed including the addition of anti-dumping and countervailing duties to the safeguard tariff, according to Rahul Gupta, ISMA general secretary and IndoSolar CEO.

The industry body last year withdrew a petition seeking anti-dumping duties on imports of solar cells and modules, saying at the time it would file a fresh one.

“We are working on an option of filing an anti-dumping petition. Documentation is getting ready and data is being collected,” Sharma said.