The Indian Solar Manufacturers Association (ISMA), on Tuesday, called for imposition of anti-dumping duty on cheap imported solar equipment from China to protect the interests of the Indian industry.

Stating that government should encourage domestic production , something that is practised in countries such as Italy and Canada, ISMA said in the absence of any clear directions from the government, the domestic units would turn sick. This, in turn, would lead to a loss of jobs. Tata Power Solar CEO Ajay K. Goel said that the dilution of domestic content requirements of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) sets up perverse behaviour in the marketplace. According to Mr. Goel, this is mainly due to current global supply dynamics, where value leaks out to exporters in the U.S. and Asia. “The thin-film, a technology most experts agree is unsuitable for India, takes 75 per cent share of the projects purely due to subsidised financing. In addition, many sub-standard modules make their way into India as the policy remains sensitive only to cost and not quality, which, in the long-term, will harm the industry,” he said.

ISMA said that, in 2013, analysts expect there will be close to 1 GW worth of project installations in India. However only 10-15 per cent, of these project installations will use domestically made cells and modules, even though the domestic industry has the capacity to provide 100 per cent of these installations. “Unless this situation is corrected, there would be a serious impact on the continuity of Indian solar manufacturing capacities and lead to closure of most manufacturing units or shifting to other regions,” it said.

ISMA said the government should comprehensively outline more domestic content requirement without any loopholes.