Safeguard Duty drags India's solar target down this year as imports fall

With project developers cutting down on projects, heat is felt by panel manufacturers as well

India’s solar power project award took a back seat in the current year because of imposition of Safeguard Duty on imported solar panels, last year. With uncertainty looming over them, project developers stalled the purchase of solar panels, hurting the domestic industry even more. Due to slowdown in imports also, the targeted tendering capacity is likely to be missed this year. 

For the year 2018-19, the tendering target set by ministry of new and renewable energy was 30,000 MW. Ongoing tenders total up to 26,000 MW and none have been closed yet. Officials said there have been lack of bids