Budget 2024: Govt Imposes New Customs Duty On Solar Glass

Budget 2024: Govt Proposes To Safeguard India's Domestic Solar Industry

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today presented the Union Budget for 2024-25 before the Parliament. The minister talked about several steps taken by the government towards India’s sustainable energy transition besides rolling out some more plans of the government to boost the growth of the renewable energy industry in the sector. She also talked about the plans to reduce the input costs for the production of solar cells and solar modules in India and protect the domestic solar glass industries.

One of the key features of the Budget was related to imposing Customs Duty against the import of solar glass into the country for solar cell/module production. “Energy transition is critical in the fight against climate change. To support energy transition, I propose to expand the list of exempted capital goods for use in the manufacture of solar cells and panels in the country. Further, in view of sufficient domestic manufacturing capacity of solar glass and tinned copper interconnect, I propose not to extend the exemption of customs duties provided to them,” she said.

This comes at a time when the Indian solar glass manufacturers like Borosil Renewables had been demanding reimposing duties against the dumping of cheap Chinese solar glass which were threatening the growth of domestic solar glass industry in the country.

Further details mentioned in the budget document revealed that the government has planned to impose new Customs Duty on the import of solar glass from zero to 10 percent with effect from October 1, 2024. It also increased the Customs Duty of inned Copper Interconnect for manufacture of solar cells or modules from zero to 5 percent from October 1, 2024.

She also talked about the plan of the government to boost the growth of Pumped Hydro Storage Projects to ensure expedition of variable renewable energy in the country. The minister also put forth new data to show the increased interest of the people in the country towards PM Surya Ghar scheme. “In line with the announcement in the interim budget, PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana has been launched to install rooftop solar plants to enable 1 crore households obtain free electricity up to 300 units every month. The scheme has generated remarkable response with more than 1.28 crore registrations and 14 lakh applications, and we will further encourage it,: she said.

Talking about the need to boost the growth of pumped hydro projects, she said in her budget speech, “A policy for promoting pumped storage projects will be brought out for electricity storage and facilitating smooth integration of the growing share of renewable energy with its variable & intermittent nature in the overall energy mix.”

She also talked about boosting the growth of nuclear energy in the country with new interventions. “Nuclear energy is expected to form a very significant part of the energy mix for Viksit Bharat. Towards that pursuit, our government will partner with the private sector for (1) setting up Bharat Small Reactors, (2) research & development of Bharat Small Modular Reactor, and (3) research & development of newer technologies for nuclear energy. The R&D funding announced in the interim budget will be made available for this sector.”

The minister also said that the government would incentivise the MSME sector if they shift to clean power sources. “An investment-grade energy audit of traditional micro and small industries in 60 clusters, including brass and ceramic, will be facilitated. Financial support will be provided for shifting them to cleaner forms of energy and implementation of energy efficiency measures. The scheme will be replicated in another 100 clusters in the next phase,” she said.