July 30 (Renewables Now) - India has decided to impose safeguard duties of almost 15% on solar cell imports from China, Thailand, and Vietnam for 12 months, the Ministry of Finance announced Wednesday.

The duty will stand at 14.9% between July 30, 2020 and January 29, 2021, minus anti-dumping duty payable, if any. Then from January 30 to July 29, 2021, the duty is slightly reduced to 14.5%.

According to Mercom India Research, China accounted for 79% of imports to India in the first quarter, followed by Vietnam with 9% and Thailand with 7%. This explains why these three countries have been listed in the decision. The earlier safeguard tariffs were for solar photovoltaic (PV) equipment from China and Malaysia. These were imposed in July 2018 and started at 25%, fell to 20% in July 2019, and then to 15% on January 30, 2020. It expired this Wednesday.

The decision to keep the safeguard duties in place is based on a recommendation by the Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) for their continued imposition in order to protect the domestic industry from injury.

India also wants to impose a basic customs duty (BCD) on solar module and cell imports from August.