Last year, India imported 16.15 crore solar panels, out of which 11.35 crore were supplied by China

About 66 per cent of all solar power panels imported were from China during the first three months of the fiscal, the Parliament was informed on Thursday.

As many as 2.92 crore solar power panels were imported from China out of the total imports of 4.41 crore panels during April-June, Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal said in a written reply in Lok Sabha.

Solar panel from China constituted over 70 per cent of the total panels imported in the previous fiscal. India imported 16.15 crore solar panels last fiscal, of which 11.35 crore were from China.

Similarly, in 2013-14, solar panel imports from China constituted over 65 per cent of the total. India imported 15.41 crore solar panels in 2013-14, which included 10.04 crore from China.

Besides China, Taiwan and Malaysia were major exporters of solar panels to India.

Earlier in August, Mr. Goyal had informed the House that the total annual installed domestic manufacturing capacity of solar cells and modules is 1,328 MW and 2,523 MW respectively.

He listed several initiatives taken for promoting domestic production that include reduction/exemption of custom and excise duty on several input raw materials required for manufacturing of cells and modules.

The government also provides capital subsidy to manufacturers under special incentive package scheme (SIPS) & Modified Special Incentive Package Scheme (M—SIP).

In a separate reply, the Minister said the government has released Rs. 1,584.21 crore for solar programme and Rs. 272.40 crore for wind power.

The total installed solar power generation capacity as on November 26 is 4,666.60 MW. The total installed wind power generation capacity is 24,677.72 MW as on October 31.

Earlier this year, the government increased India’s solar power capacity target five-folds under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM), from 20,000 MW to 1,00,000 MW by 2022.

This target comprises 40,000 MW of rooftop solar projects and 60,000 MW through large and medium-scale grid connected solar power projects.

• [Editor:tianyawei]