DGTR to hold public hearing on safeguard duty probe of solar cells on June 26

The Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR), under the commerce ministry, will hold a public hearing on June 26 here on safeguard duty investigation of solar cells.

The meeting assumes significance as domestic solar manufacturers are demanding imposition of safeguard duty on imports of solar cells and modules.

Additional Secretary in the ministry Sunil Kumar will preside over meeting.

Kumar "will hold a public hearing on June 26", the DGTR said in a notice.

Earlier the Directorate General of Safeguards, which is now subsumed in DGTR, had recommended imposition of duty on imports of solar cells for a period of 200 days.

The directorate is mandated to investigate the existence of serious injury or threat of serious injury to the domestic industry as a consequence of increased import of an article into India.

India is targeting to 100 gigawatt (GW) solar capacity by 2022.

Solar cells, electrical devices that convert sunlight directly into electricity, are imported primarily from China, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan.

Imports of the cells from these countries account for more than 90 per cent of the total inbound shipments in the country.