The Budget Speech delivered by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had spoke of raising certain duties on solar invertors and lanterns to encourage domestic production, it did not include BCDs on these components. Even while the government did not move ahead with its intent to impose basic custom duties (BCD) on solar equipment in the Union Budget, a phased manufacturing plan for solar cells and panels announced on February 1 may include this component.
“In no way can we come to the conclusion that BCD will not take place,” said Ministry of New and Renewable Energy Secretary Indu Shekhar Chaturvedi during a post-Budget media briefing on Tuesday.
“When you see the Budget carefully, it is written that a phased manufacturing plan will be notified by the government. So, the phased manufacturing plan is a kind of policy which includes everything, including basic custom duty,” said MNRE Joint Secretary Amitesh Kumar Sinha at the briefing.
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“We are awaiting some…clarification from the Department of Revenue, and we are hopeful that, within a day or two, we will receive that,” he added.
In June last year, Minister of New and Renewable Energy RK Singh said that the government was planning to impose a BCD on solar cells and modules to discourage imports in this sector.
However, while the Budget Speech delivered by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had spoke of raising certain duties on solar invertors and lanterns to encourage domestic production, it did not include BCDs on these components.
