Third time lucky? Govt begins anti-dumping investigation on solar imports

Complaint was filed by Mundra Solar PV and Jupiter Solar Power with the DGTR under the ministry of commerce

The government has initiated an investigation into the dumping of solar imports from China, Vietnam and Taiwan. The complaint was filed by Mundra Solar PV (the solar manufacturing unit of Adani Enterprises), and Jupiter Solar Power to the Directorate General of Trade Rem­edies (DGTR), under the ministry of commerce.

In a gazette notification dated May 15, the DGTR said it has submitted the case under the prima facie evidence of injury to the domestic industry by such solar imports. This is the third time since 2012 that domestic solar manufacturers have approached the government for relief from imported solar content “dumped at below market price.”

This comes at a time when the Union government has already ann­ounced a basic customs duty of 40 and 25 per cent on solar cells and modules, with effect from April 1, 2022. There is already a 15 per cent safeguard duty levied on solar imports, expiring in July this year. The complainants have alleged that the domestic industry has suffered material injury due to dumped imports of solar cells (whether or not assembled into modules or panels), originating in or exported from China, Taiwan and Vietnam. 

While admitting the case, the DGTR said, “There is prima facie evide­nce that normal value of the subject go­ods in the subject countries are higher than the net export prices, thereby indicating that the subject goods originating in or exported from the subject countries are being exported at dumped prices, so as to justify initiation of investigation.”

In the notification, the DGTR also noted evidence of the price undercutting, price suppression and price depression effect on the domestic industry by the imports.

“The domestic industry is able to sell under the central public sector undertaking (CPSU) scheme but not in the open market in India. The volume of sale by the applicant is negligible during the period of investigation in the open market in which the imported goods compete with them. Even after making sales under the CPSU scheme, unutilised capacity exists with the applicants,” said the notification.

The CPSU scheme entails that public sector companies, while setting up solar power plants, would use domestic content (solar cells and modules).

India imports close to 90 per cent of its solar cells and modules, with 80 per cent being from China. According to industry data, India has 3,100 Mw of cell manufacturing capacity and 9,000 Mw of module making. India’s installed capacity of solar power stands at 39.08 Gw (including ground mounted and rooftop). India aims to have 100 Gw of solar power capacity by next year.

This is the third such attempt by the Indian solar manufacturing industry in the past decade to get relief from imports, especially coming from China. In 2014, the ministry of commerce finalised duties to tune of $0.48-$0.81 per unit on solar cells and modules imported from the US and China. But the ministry of finance did not impose them and let the duty lapse. A similar application in 2018, by the Indian Solar Manufacturers’ Association, was withdrawn by them later.

The period for the current investigation has been taken from July 2019 to December 2020. However, the injury period will be from 2016 to 2020.