Side-stepping a Commerce Ministry investigation, the Finance Ministry did not notify its recommended anti-dumping duty on imports of solar panels from four countries, including the U.S. and China. Owing to the Finance Ministry’s inaction, the window that was available to India for slapping these restrictive duties aimed at protecting the struggling domestic industry has lapsed.
“There was no notification. We allowed it to lapse,” State Minister for Commerce and Industry (Independent Charge) Nirmala Sitharaman said here on Wednesday addressing a press conference on the 100 days of the Modi Government.
The Commerce Ministry’s quasi-judicial ruling had to be published by the Finance Ministry for which it had a stipulated timeframe of 3 months.
Following a three-year long investigation, the Commerce Ministry had proposed to the Finance Ministry in May restrictive anti-dumping duties in the range of $0.11-0.81 per watt on solar cells imported from the U.S., China, Malaysia and Chinese Taipei.
The investigation had upheld the Indian solar panel manufacturers’ contention that the subsidies the U.S. and Chinese competitors receive from their governments allowed them to dump their products in India at artificially low prices.
Power Minister Piyush Goyal and Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari had both opposed the Commerce Ministry’s recommendation.
Mr. Goyal’s opposition was on the ground that the domestic solar equipment manufacturing capacity was insufficient to meet the government’s ambitious targets for power generation from green energy sources.
