NEW DELHI: A Parliamentary Committee on Commerce examining the impact of Chinese imports on Indian industry has raised concern over the “China centricity’’ of the Indian Solar Mission and has recommended immediate trade remedial measures to protect the domestic solar industry.
“It is of the view that over-dependence on solar imports from China will lead the country to a precarious situation… The National Solar Mission will be subject to the bilateral relations with the China. Any dispute with China might lead to supply disruptions and adversely affect the solar programme,” the report submitted in Parliament on Thursday cautioned.
The Committee, under the chairmanship of Naresh Gujral, MP, Rajya Sabha, observed that 84 per cent of solar equipment requirement in the country is met through imports from China. India imported solar cells and modules worth ₹15,523 crore during 2015-16, of which solar cells and modules worth ₹12,987 crore were imported only from China. In 2016-17 and 2017-18, the trend has been the same and Chinese solar cells and modules dominated the imports amounting to around ₹17,000 crore.
This has happened as China has been able to dump its solar modules and cells in India at prices lower than that of the price at which they sell in Japan, Europe or the US, the report said.
The Directorate-General of Trade Remedies, under the Commerce Ministry, recently recommended imposing a 25 per cent safeguard duty on solar cells and modules from China and Malaysia. The Parliamentary Committee proposed that anti-dumping duties may also be levied on Chinese imports, but in a differential manner to facilitate level pegging for domestic industry.
“The Committee also feels that the solar power industry must explore the avenues of protection under CVD (countervailing duties) since Chinese solar industry enjoys WTO non-complaint subsidies of the Chinese,” the report said.
It underlined that the Committee was not against trade with China but recommended complete protection to Indian industry against any illegitimate, protectionist and unfair trade practices of any country.
Source: thehindubusinessline
