China accounts for 89% of India's total solar cells imports in 2017-18

China accounted for about 89 per cent of India's total imports of solar cells, including photocells, in 2017-18, Parliament was informed on Wednesday.

In 2017-18, import of these cells from China were worth Rs 224.02 billion, while the country's total imports stood at Rs 252.09 billion in the fiscal.

The cost of Chinese solar PV (photo voltaic) panels is lower than the cost of Indian panels, Minister of State for Commerce and Industry C R Chaudhary said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.

He said that industry has reported that some of the major reasons for poor manufacturing capacity of solar panels in India are high cost of land/ electricity, low capacity utilisation, high cost of financing.

"Addressing such issues can help India achieve economies of scale in production of solar panels," he added.

This week, India has imposed safeguard duty on solar cells imports for two years to protect domestic players from steep rise in the inbound shipments of the product.

On the other hand, India's exported these cells worth only Rs 9.37 billion in 2017-18.

In a separate reply, he said single brand retail trading sector has received $1.04 billion FDI during 2006-18.

"From 2006 till March 29 this year, 112 brands have obtained the approval of government in this regard," he said.