CHINA’S SOLAR POWER SLOWDOWN DUE TO SAFEGUARDING DUTY LEVY IN INDIA ON SOLAR CELL AND SOLAR PV MODULES China is taking downturn on its solar power sector—the world’s largest—a move that could help India take the lead in global renewable energy adoption. On Monday (July 30), the Narendra Modi government notified a 25% safeguard duty on imported solar panels for a period of two years. The duty, typically imposed during import surges, is meant to protect domestic manufacturers. It is now bound to hike solar power tariffs in India since around 90% of panels the sector uses are made in China and Malaysia. India has around half-a-dozen makers of solar cells and modules, with a total capacity of around 3,000 MW. This is hardly enough to meet the country’s burgeoning demand. Due to the safeguard duty demand and supply equilibrium has affected adversely and on the other hand Indian Solar Cell manufacturers are not in position to meet local Solar Panel manufacturer demand. Local...