Solar Make-in-India needs a long-term strategy

To bolster Make-in-India for the solar sector, the Centre recently announced a production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for solar manufacturing with a budget of Rs 4,500 crore over five years. Basic customs duty of 25% on cells and 40% on panels will also be levied on imported panels starting April 2022. These measures follow a slew of efforts over the past decade to establish domestic solar panel manufacturing. However, several issues remain, including a volatile domestic market and weak industrial innovation capabilities.