Solar equipment makers seek anti-dumping duty on imports from China, Malaysia, Taiwan.

NEW DELHI: Indian manufacturers of solar equipment are seeking anti-dumping duty on imports from China, Malaysia, Taiwan and the US on the grounds that local industry is bleeding because of "ridiculously low" price of foreign equipment.

The industry wants anti-dumping duty on imports of solar photovoltaic (PV) cells and modules, and has filed an application to the directorate general of anti-dumping and allied duties (DGAD).

" Globally, there's a huge capacity of solar PV cells and modules. The selling price is artificial and not at all related to the cost of the product currently," said S Venkatramani, general secretary, Indian Solar Manufacturer's Association. The application was filed in January and DGAD is looking into the matter.

He said Indian industry has a very low capacity and dumping of foreign products is making their condition even worse.

"The industry is not only struggling but its existence is challenged today. Lack of level-playing field for manufacturers in India vis-a-vis competition from certain non-market economies, where we are virtually competing with the country and not companies," said Vivek Chaturvedi, CMO, Moser Baer.

The association believes that the recent move by the US to impose anti-dumping duty on Chinese solar equipment proves that there's a strong case.

The US recently imposed 31% anti-dumping duty on Chinese solar imports, going as high as 250% for some companies. US manufacturers had alleged that Chinese products are eating their local market.

While the industries bat for a level playing field, government is trying to help local industries as much as they can.

"They (local manufacturers) are asking for concessions on funds but the cost and availability of funding is a major issue. We might come up with a separate scheme to fund local manufacturers," said Tarun Kapoor, joint secretary, ministry of new and renewable energy.

In India, solar cell manufacturers use only CSi technology but it's the imported thin-film that has gained popularity among project developers, as it's cheap especially from China and Taiwan. The current ratio of CSi-based projects to those based on thin films is 45:55.

Source : articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com