The government has issued letter of awards to three successful bidders in Nov - Dec 2021 for setting up 8.737 Gigawatt of fully integrated solar PV module manufacturing units under tranche I of the PLI scheme for High efficiency Solar PV modules, the Parliament was informed.
"The manufacturing capacity is scheduled for commissioning around end of 2024," Minister of State, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Anupriya Patel said in response to a question asked in Lok Sabha. She was sharing examples of PLI schemes that were launched recently and have started showing results, responding to a question on India's trade deficit with China. India imports
capital goods, intermediate goods and raw materials that are used for meeting the demand of fast expanding sectors like electronics, telecom and power in India. The country imports around 80 per cent of its annual requirement of solar power generation equipment.
India's trade deficit with China stood at $1.48 billion in 2004-05. It rose to $36.21 billion in 2013-14, and further to $73.31 billion last financial year (2021-22). Solar PLI scheme: Module manufacturing capacity of 8.7 GW to be commissioned by end 2024
"The PLI schemes in API/Bulk Drugs/Key Starting Materials and Large-Scale Electronics Manufacturing have been launched by the government recently and these schemes will reduce dependency on imports and make India a competitive destination for drugs/electronics manufacturing and create more domestic champions apart from giving boost to Atmanirbhar Bharat," Patel said.
She also said that the government has empowered the Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) to recommend restrictions on import of a product by imposition of additional duty or quantitative restrictions (QRs) if Indian industry is ‘seriously injured’ or ‘threatened with injury’ on account of surge in imports or unfair trade practices. Currently, 53 Anti-dumping measures and four Countervailing Duty measures are in force on Chinese products on account of unfair trade practices.