The Government of India has decided not to import any safeguard duty on solar equipment from China and Malaysia and overruled the 70 per cent levy recommended by the Directorate General of Safeguards.
The Delhi High Court has also rejected the petition challenging the proposed duty after the argument of the government’s counsel that it would hurt the interests of developers who felt that the steep rise in input costs would make projects unviable.
As of now, there will be no duty levied on any import, said Anand Kumar, Secretary, Minister of New and Renewable Energy.
Since 90 per cent of the equipment used in Indian solar projects is imported, thus, this news comes as a great relief to the solar developers.
India’s solar power capacity has increased unprecedently in recent years, led by big investments by companies such as ReNew Power, Tata Power, Hero Future Energies, Greenko, Acme Solar and Azure Power.
