Import duty on Green Energy Equipment hiked by 20% in Budget 2020-21
The Budget 2020-21 that was presented by the finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman in the Parliament increased the import duty of green energy equipment like cells by 20%. This is being implemented to drive local manufacturing of the equipment and lowering the import of low-quality Chinese equipment.
The step is being introduced to protect the local companies and to boost Make in India strategy.
Highlights
The Energy markets is currently one of the fast-growing markets in India. However, the market is dominated by the Chinese companies for their competitive prices. The GoI had earlier imposed safeguard duty over solar cells and models that are imported from Malaysia and China in July 2018. This is to expire by July 2020. Hence, the budget has introduced new duties.
India’s Scenario
India is the third largest consumer of energy after US and China. The manufacturing capacity of India is 3 GW for the solar cells. In spite of this, in 2018-19, India imported 2.16 billion USD worth solar photo voltaic cells.
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Month: Current Affairs - February, 2020