Legal

On the request of the Indian Solar Manufacturers Association (ISMA), the Directorate-General of Anti-Dumping & Allied Duties have terminated the ongoing petition into imported solar cells. Dharmendra Kumar, an analyst at IHS Markit, told pv magazine that ISMA will re-file this petition in April.

With the current World Trade Organizations (WTO’s) decision, it appears that the solar domestic content dispute between India and the U.S. has stepped forward. Last three-four hearing was just stuck in U.S. rejections of India’s compliance statement.

India’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) will penalize parties found in violation of the MNRE’s Domestic Content Requirement (DCR) rules for solar projects, which the World Trade Organisation (WTO) has approved for DCR use.

India is planning to impose a safeguard duty this year to protect its domestic solar manufacturing sector. Many in the industry earnestly believe that if such duties were to be imposed, then a slowing down in market growth would be inevitable. However, the Indian Solar Manufacturers Association (ISMA) believes this will not be the case. Either way, this duty has created unwanted uncertainty in the market.

The United States blocks India’s request for a panel to investigate Indian compliance to solar cells ruling. Thus, the Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) has deferred the establishment of a compliance panel. Moreover, U.S. reserves its right to obtain WTO authorization to take countermeasures against India, but there is desire to find a bilateral resolution.

Following a complaint from Indian glass specialist Gujarat Borosil ltd, the government has initiated an anti-dumping probe for the imports of solar glass.

India is calling for a special meeting of the World Trade Organization’s (WTO’s) Dispute Settlement Body (DSB), to be held on February 9, to consider its request to resolve the disagreement between India and the U.S.

The 9th monthly get-together and stakeholder’s meeting of the International Solar Alliance was held on January 24. The event witnessed several announcements from companies such as TATA ($2.25 million Incubation hub), NTPC (new developments), Power Grid Corporation of India (new battery storage projects), Infosys (smart PV solutions), and Emami.

India has proposed to impose safeguard duty at the rate of 70% for a period of 200 days on imported cells and modules coming from China PR and Malaysia.

India hit back on Monday at Washington’s latest legal assault on its solar power policies at the World Trade Organization, rejecting a US legal claim and exploring possible new protection of India’s own solar industry.