Govt. aims to replace safeguard duty with custom duty to protect local manufacturers of solar equipment, says Power Minister R K Singh

Minister of State for Power and New and Renewable Energy R K Singh has said, India is going to replace the safeguard duty with the custom duty to protect the local manufacturers of solar equipment. He said, some countries are dumping solar equipment at very low prices in our country to destroy local manufacturers.

Talking exclusively to AIR News, Mr. Singh said, India wants to expand its export base in the solar energy sector like wind energy wherein the country is not only self sufficient but also an exporter. He said, India has the maximum growth and demand of renewable energy as per capita energy consumption is very low in the country.

Talking about the production linked incentive scheme to boost the local manufacturing sector, the Minister said, this scheme will further accelerate the manufacturing.

Terming the PM-KUSUM scheme a second green revolution, Mr. Singh said, this scheme will benefit the farmers by providing subsidy for setting up solar pumps and solar power generation capacity on their barren lands.

The Minister said that the cost of solar power will come down in future with the increased efficiency of solar modules, cells and storage capacity. He said, this will help the consumer to a great extent by providing cheap electricity.

Source: newsonair