India quietly drops anti dumping duties
Without any fanfare the Indian government appears to have quietly dropped plans to impose tariffs on solar panels from China, Malaysia,Chinese Taipei and the USA.
Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman stated in an interview that there had been no notification and the commerce department had allowed the proposal to lapse. The Directorate General of Anti-Dumping and Allied Duties (DGAD).had recommended to the government to impose anti dumping duty on solar cells to protect domestic industry.
DGAD is under the administrative control of the commerce ministry.
There had been local opposition to the proposal and concern that the US was planning to bring India under the attention of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) for the Indian government's attempt to dictate domestic sourcing guidelines for the 20GW solar mission plan.
Despite some news reports there is no evidence the decision has been made to appease US concerns but the timing is impeccable with India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi due to meet US President Barack Obama later this month.