BEIJING: China accounted for 87.7% of the solar module and cell imports to India in April-December 2016, according to a report by Mercom Capital Group. Solar imports with a combined value of USD 1.8 billion (EUR 1.7bn) have been recorded in the period, marking a year-on-year increase of 41%. About USD 1.6 billion of that came from China, and USD 134 million from Malaysia.
Mercom says the volume of photovoltaic (PV) product imports to India is likely to keep growing. An official at Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) has told the market research company that SECI is not planning more tenders with a domestic content requirement (DCR) category. In December alone, with the increase in project installation works, import levels jumped by 74% over the same month of 2015. In the whole of 2016 India installed about 4 GW of solar capacity, or nearly twice as much as in the previous year, Mercom said at the start of 2017, reiterating its solar installs guidance of more than 9 GW for this year.
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In April-December 2016 India exported just USD 59 million worth of PV modules and cells, down by 49% on the year. In December alone, exports dropped by 95%. Mercom says the UK was the largest importer of Indian PV products with a 31.87% share in the nine months. Italy, Belgium, the US and China are the other markets in top five.
