AISIA rues lack of support from govt, domestic developers for solar manufacturers

Solar manufacturers have highlighted the lack of support from the government and the domestic developers, according to a press note shared by the All India Solar Industries Association (AISIA), the domestic solar manufacturers association, on Wednesday.

It added that even though the government has announced several policies to support the players, domestic solar manufacturing continues to suffer.

“The cause behind this are campaigns spreading misinformation around competency and quality, promoting import of Chinese modules without duty, and continued efforts to scuttle implementation of structural measures and tariffs,” said the AISIA note.

The industry body said that India still continues to be heavily import dependent and a dumping ground for foreign manufacturers.

“The PLI scheme would save significant foreign exchange while maintaining a tapering structure of benefits for the local players to become self-sufficient over five years, we have also witnessed ‘Make in India’ being strictly opposed due to vested interests such as pricing wherein developers have set an expectation of procuring high quality solar panels at cheap pricing,” it said.

The domestic manufacturers under AISIA said that there are myths such as limited manufacturing capacity, even though India has always had more manufacturing capacity than deployment in the country. Even during the last three financial years, the deployment is below the manufacturing capacity, the note added.

“Thus, we request and pray for immediate and urgent intervention to thwart any such nefarious moves from those interested in dumping Chinese imports, leading to grave consequences, including most units turning to NPA and some might even nosedive to bankruptcy,” added the note.

AISIA also requested the government for a timely implementation of basic customs duty and to award the production-linked incentive scheme to waitlisted players, and to maintain sanctity of the ALMM order of 13 January 2022 which expands DCR requirements for even open access and non-subsidy projects.