Government Imposes Safeguard Duty On Solar Cell Imports From China, Malaysia For Two Years

The government has imposed safeguard duty on solar cells imports from China and Malaysia for two years to protect domestic players.

The decision to place safeguards was taken on the recommendation of the Directorate General of Trade Remedies. In its investigation, the body had found that increased imports have caused "serious injury" to the domestic producers.

"It will be in the public interest to impose safeguard duty on the imports for a period of two years," the DGTR had said.

Safeguard duty of 25 per cent has been imposed for the first year starting 30 July 2018 and ending 29 July 2019. The duty will gradually come down to 20 per cent during the 30 July 2019 to and 29 January 2020 period and 15 per cent during the 30 January 2020 to 29 July 2020 period.

There has been a significant increase in imports of the cells in absolute terms. Imports have jumped to 9,790 MW in 2017-18 from 1,275 MW in 2014-15.

When the investigation was initiated, the Photovoltaic industry had said that safeguard duty on solar cells and modules will be catastrophic, PVTech had reported. Earlier, Vandana Gombar, a Bloomberg New Energy Finance analyst, had told Mint that record low solar tariffs seen in 2017 will disappear if safeguard duty is imposed.