Looking to counter Chinese imports, govt to levy basic Customs duty on solar gear
As India launches an offensive against imports from China following deadly clashes at the disputed Galwan Valley, the government has finalised deadlines to raise basic Customs duties on solar generation equipment. This, coupled with the country’s push for its “Atmanirbhar Bharat” campaign, has also prompted the government to fix timelines for building indigenous capacity for power and renewable energy equipment. It has also mandated that firms importing equipment and items from countries with which India has conflict to seek prior approval of the power and new and renewable energy ministries.
In a meeting with industry heads Tuesday, Minister of Power and New and Renewable Energy RK Singh said the Ministry would be imposing basic Customs duty on solar modules, cells and inverters starting August. Financing from PFC, REC and IREDA will be structured in a manner that lower rates of interest will be charged on developers using domestically manufactured equipment, it said.
The government, earlier, implemented a 25 per cent safeguard duty on solar cell imports from countries like China and Malaysia in July 2018, which is expected to lapse by the end of July this year.
In the case of goods and services where domestic capacity is not available and import is “inevitable”, the ministry will be allowing a fixed timeframe of 2-3 years to build indigenous capacity.
Indian express
