New Delhi: India’s economic response against Chinese border transgressions is playing out in the solar space, with certification and testing approvals for imported solar equipment from China hanging fire due to inordinate delays by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), said two people aware of the development.
This approval is necessary to be eligible to sell here after India made it mandatory for all imported solar equipment to meet stringent quality norms, following instances of poor-quality solar modules being sold.
This assumes significance, given that 80% of the solar cells and modules used here are bought from China and accounted for around $2.16 billion of imports in 2018-19. Major Chinese solar module manufacturers, such as Trina Solar Ltd, Jinko Solar, JA Solar Holdings, ET Solar, Chint Solar and GCL-Poly Energy Holdings Ltd, have been supplying to India for what will become the world’s largest clean energy programme.
