India terminates solar cell anti-dumping probe

India’s Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR), an entity under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, has terminated the anti-dumping investigation into solar cells from China, Thailand, and Vietnam following a request from the Indian Solar Manufacturers Association (ISMA).

The domestic manufacturers, at whose instance the probe was initiated, withdrew their application for probe citing that the price pressure on them due to the alleged dumping had considerably eased with the imposition of basic customs duty on solar cells and modules.

Notably, post-initiation of the anti-dumping probe, the government imposed a basic customs duty of 40% on solar modules and 25% on cells from April this year.

“The said levy covering the entire scope of the product under investigation has alleviated the price pressure being suffered by the domestic industry due to the dumping from the subject countries to a considerable extent, though not fully,” stated ISMA.

The DGTR launched the investigation into the solar cells, whether or not assembled into modules or panels, coming from China, Thailand, and Vietnam, on May 15, 2021, based on an application filed by Mundra Solar PV, Jupiter Solar Power, and Jupiter International, through ISMA.

In their application, the manufacturers sought the imposition of anti-dumping duties to protect them from material injury caused by such imports at unfairly low prices.

The DGTR launched the probe as it identified prima facie evidence suggesting that the normal value of solar cells in each of the three exporting countries significantly surpassed their net export prices.