The US could have a stronger case against India at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) if the country goes ahead with its plans of covering more products under domestic sourcing norms in the second phase of the National Solar Mission.
In a response being framed on the draft rules for the second phase circulated by the Ministry of Non-renewable Energy recently, the Commerce Department has taken a view that inclusion of a larger number of items like thin films and solar cells under sourcing norms could spell trouble at the WTO, an official told Business Line .
The US filed a complaint with the Dispute Settlement Body of the WTO last week against domestic content requirement in the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNSSM) which mandates that solar photovoltaic modules based on crystalline technology has to be sourced locally.
“The US is not actually bothered about domestic sourcing of solar modules as mandated under the first phase as most producers under the solar mission prefer to use thin films, which are cheaper and not covered under domestic sourcing. In fact, US companies are exporting a large amount of thin films for the solar mission,” the official said.
The dispute raised by the US at the WTO against India is largely to prevent widening of the domestic sourcing net to include thin films that are much cheaper than crystalline modules but have shorter life-span. More than 60 per cent of projects under the solar mission have opted for importing thin films prompting the MNRE to close the loop-hole in policy and include thin films under domestic content requirement as well.
India’s main argument in its defence is that domestic content requirement is applicable to grid solar power projects where procurement of solar power will be essentially done by the Government through public sector entity NTPC and thus would fall under the government procurement category. Since India is not part of the Government Procurement Agreement, it could impose any condition on Government procurement.
The argument, however, is not fool-proof as Government procurement is taking place only after solar power has been produced while the initial sourcing is being done by private companies. The greater the number of products that get covered under the procurement net, the weaker could be India’s case, fear officials at the Commerce Department.