According to a CRISIL report, the Coronavirus crisis will likely affect India’s solar industry to the tune of ₹16,000 crore, or 3GW. As of January 2020, India installed 35GW and without fast paced installation, it is very likely to miss its ambitious target to install 100 giga watt (GW) solar energy by 2022.
India had imported $1.18 billion (around ₹8,850 crore) worth modules from China during April-December 2019, as per MNRE.
India’s heavy dependence on China for the modules will severely impact its target realization as China is in a state of lockdown due to conoranvirus pandemic.
Taking note of the impact of Coronavirus on the industry in India, the government has stepped in to offer relief. It has declared this crisis as a force majeure situation.
RBI’s 3-month moratorium on term loans should also help firms whose cash flows have been impacted.
But as of now, the biggest hurdle to capacity addition is still over-reliance on solar imports. The ministry urged states and ports to identify land to set-up manufacturing facilities for solar equipment.
Reference- Business Insider, Economic Times, CRISIL report