Govt mulling interest subvention for solar PV manufacturers to boost Make in India: RK Singh

• We already have an additional 20 GW of manufacturing capacity coming in, said the Minister

• To check dumping, in addition to safeguard duty, the government will also impose custom duty on imports, said Singh

New Delhi: Asserting that the space vacated by retiring conventional thermal power plants will be taken up by renewable energy, Union Minister RK Singh said that the government is considering a number of incentives like interest subvention, production-linked incentives for use of futuristic technology, export and efficiency for solar PV manufacturers to boost Make in India. "When conventional power plants retire, that space is going to be taken up by renewable energy. Our vision is very clear. We want to green electricity generation. And we want all the manufacturing equipment that is used for power generation to be Made in India," said Singh.

While addressing a virtual symposium titled 'India PV Edge 2020' organised by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), Niti Aayog and Invest India on Tuesday, Singh assured the solar PV manufacturing industry of support from the government and said that there are several initiatives on the anvil.

20 GW of additional manufacturing capacity coming in: Singh

The minister assured the industry that the government is taking steps to check dumping in the solar PV manufacturing industry. "To check dumping, in addition to safeguard duty, the government will also impose custom duty on imports. We also have compiled an approved list of models and manufacturers and we are going to promote them," said Singh.

Due to all these efforts, we already have an additional 20 GW of manufacturing capacity coming in, said the Minister of New and Renewable Energy.

Interest subvention and production-linked incentives for solar manufacturers

Addressing the webinar, MNRE Joint Secretary Amitesh Kumar Sinha elaborated on the incentives that are currently in the pipeline. He said that the MNRE has proposed a scheme to offset the higher lending cost in India under which interest subvention will be given to solar gear manufacturers for capex, working capital requirement, technological upgradation of a plant after three years of operation and to offset the cost of power required for solar wafer manufacturing.

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Sinha said that another scheme proposed by Niti Aayog would offer production-linked incentives (PLI). For instance, cutting edge solar PV technology-based new manufacturing units, export of modules from India, efficient solar modules, less thermal loss modules and higher localisation factor will attract more incentives, said the Joint Secretary. He added that both the schemes are currently being considered by the government. 

The bureaucrat also said that there will be no dearth of demand as India would need 30 GW of solar power equipment to achieve the target of 175 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2022, 100 GW of which will comprise of solar power. And in addition, there would be opportunities for export.

In future, India may hold bids for futuristic technology: Singh

While noting the need to bring in advanced technologies in the solar manufacturing sector, Singh said that in addition to incentives for those using futuristic technologies, India may also hold bids for advanced technology. "During the lockdown, we finalised bids for 12,000 MW of RE projects. Until today, we have around 13,000 MW of bids out. In future, I think we would also holds bids for futuristic technology," said the minister.

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