India imposes 5-year anti-dumping duty on Chinese, Vietnamese solar glass

India has imposed an anti-dumping duty of up to USD 664 per tonne on imports of a certain type of solar glass from China and Vietnam for five years in a bid to protect domestic manufacturers from cheap imports from these two countries, according to a government notification.

The duty was imposed after the commerce ministry's investigation arm Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) recommended for the same after conducting a detailed probe on the dumping of 'Textured Toughened (Tempered) Coated and Uncoated Glass' from China and Vietnam.

Commonly used in solar panels, these glasses are also referred to as Solar Glass, Low Iron Solar Glass, Solar PV Glass, High Transmission Photovoltaic Glass, and Tempered Low Iron Patterned Solar Glass.

It has concluded in its findings that there is a substantial increase in the volume of dumped imports of the glass from these countries in absolute and relative terms.

"The anti-dumping duty imposed under this notification shall be effective for a period of five years from the date of imposition of the provisional anti-dumping duty, that is, December 4, 2024, unless revoked, amended or superseded earlier," the finance ministry said in a notification.

The imposed duty will be in the range of USD 570 per tonne and USD 664 per tonne.

The DGTR conducted the probe following applications regarding the same from Borosil Renewables Ltd on behalf of the domestic industry.

In a BSE filing, Borosil has hailed the decision and said that it will encourage rapid and significant growth in domestic manufacturing of solar glass.

Anti-dumping probes are conducted by countries to determine whether domestic industries have been hurt because of a surge in cheap imports.

As a countermeasure, they impose these duties under the multilateral regime of the Geneva-based World Trade Organization (WTO). Both India and China are members of the multilateral organisations, which deals with global trade norms.

The duty is aimed at ensuring fair trading practices and creating a level-playing field for domestic producers vis-a-vis foreign producers and exporters.

India has already imposed anti-dumping duty on several products to tackle cheap imports from various countries, including China.