Plans for a major financial package to support India’s domestic PV manufacturers have been cancelled by the Indian government in order to be reshaped for the current state of the industry, according to a source close to the issue.
Speaking to PV Tech, the source said: “The earlier plan become redundant in terms of the new dimensions of scale and size as now required as well as going forward. As such the older vintage plan was considered inadequate and therefore rejected by the Finance Ministry. These plans […] are under reorganisation now.”
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Indeed finance minister Arun Jaitley overlooked the support scheme in his Budget at the beginning of this year.
The World Trade Organisation (WTO) ruled against India’s Domestic Content Requirement (DCR) last year. Meanwhile, earlier this month, both US and India delegations agreed to set a 14 December date for India to end the DCR completely.
Nevertheless, India’s central government has often vocally made known its intentions to find a WTO-compliant method to support local sourcing of solar components.
The source said that the government is in continual dialogue with manufacturers to find additional solutions to create a robust manufacturing sector – adding: “Significant progress has already been made in this regards including the formulation of a National Solar Manufacturing Policy.”
Even so Indian manufacturers continue to struggle against cheaper Chinese imports.
In related news, Indian manufacturers also recently filed an anti-dumping petition against cell and module imports from China, Taiwan and Malaysia. The petition will assume a life of its own and be run by autonomous bodies like the Director General of Anti-Dumping and Allied Duties (DGAD), said the source.