Chiripal Group Proposes Solar Manufacturing Investment in MP

Gujarat based diversified industrial group Chiripal Group, which has existing interests in textiles, petrochemicals, education, polyfilms and financing, has proposed an investment of Rs 4600 crores in Madhya Pradesh, under MP’s industrial promotion policy. Our understanding is that all the plans involve Gigawatt plus scale of manufacturing.

The news comes even as massive solar manufacturing plans are underway in Gujarat itself, ranging from Waaree Energies to Reliance to Adani Solar and more.

Chiripal Group’s plans cover investments in cell, solar glass and module production. The group was not among the applicants in the solar PLI scheme of the government, even as a fresh scheme is awaited for the expanded budget allocated in the 2022-23 budget.

India continues to face massive shortages in the solar cell and solar glass markets, especially at a time when the markets are shifting towards higher capacity modules, besides bifacials which use up more glass.

For Madhya Pradesh, the proposed investment in Ratlam district would be a welcome investment for the 3000 jobs it could potentially create, besides providing a closer access to inputs for its own solar plans. The state has in recent years been catching up on solar capacity with the establishment of solar parks, as well as plans for some significant  solar projects in the future too.

For a group such as the Chiripal group, a move into solar manufacturing will require a well considered plan, considering the high competition and technical requirements here. Importantly, the group already has strong manufacturing experience thanks to its backward and forard integration in textiles, besides the petrochemicals sector.

As the government, or more precisely IREDA, the designated agency for the PLI scheme, gets closer to launching the fresh version of the Solar PLI scheme, expect more such groups and firms to express a strong interest, thanks to the extended period of demand for solar seen for the coming decade and beyond in India. A strong protection regime that has come up since April in the form of the BCD on imported modules and cells is also expected to strengthen interest in manufacturing in India