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Weekly Update: What can India’s solar industry expect from the new budget 2014-15?

08 July 2014 | Jasmeet Khurana

The new budget for 2014-15 will be the first of the recently elected government in India. The expectations are high, but the finance minister has to walk a tightrope to ensure fiscal prudence in an economy that has been handed over to him in a bad shape. BRIDGE TO INDIA expects the government to increase the allocations to the MNRE The government should think of ways to strategically...

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Weekly Update: Is Indian solar manufacturing looking up?

24 June 2014 | Jasmeet Khurana

The Indian stock market as a whole has been on a bull run ever since the new government has come into power. However, one group that has done exceptionally well is the solar cell manufacturers, whose valuations had been very low before. The stock price of the three independently listed cell manufacturers has risen sharply: Websol Energy Systems rose a staggering 168%, Moser Baer by 130% and...

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Weekly Update: What Modi’s victory means for solar in India

27 May 2014 | Tobias Engelmeier

Modi’s election victory was overwhelming. His party, the BJP, has won a clear majority in the lower house with 282 out of 543 seats. Previously, as Chief Minister of Gujarat, Modi had presided over the most successful Indian solar policy. So is Modi good news for solar in India? With the election results barely more than a week past, it is still early to take that call. But let us look at what...

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Weekly Update: Anti-dumping duties can kill the Indian solar market

13 May 2014 | Jasmeet Khurana

Sometime before 21st May 2014, the Directorate General of Anti-dumping Duties (DGAD) under the Ministry of Commerce is expected to give its recommendations on the PV cells and module dumping investigations that started on 21st May 2012, based on a complaint by four Indian cell manufacturers. There have been contradictory reports as to which way the results of the investigation may lean...

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Weekly Update: India to invite bids for another 1,500 MW of solar PV under the NSM this year

29 April 2014 | Jasmeet Khurana

BRIDGE TO INDIA understands that Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) plans to allocate 1,500 MW of solar PV projects under the National Solar Mission (NSM) towards the end of this year. These new projects are likely to follow the bundling mechanism, similar to phase one of the NSM and unlike the Viability Gap Funding (VGF) mechanism used for the recent 750 MW of NSM projects, where Power...

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Weekly Update: Decoding the solar track record of India’s political parties

15 April 2014 | Jasmeet Khurana

The first solar policy in India was released by the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the state of Gujarat in 2009. This was soon followed by a much more comprehensive National Solar Mission at the central government level by the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) headed by the Indian National Congress (INC). Both these policies have laid the foundation for the creation of a solar power...

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Weekly Update: Impact of a new government on the solar industry in India: our take

07 April 2014 | Jasmeet Khurana

India has begun voting for a new government today. This largest ever democratic exercise will involve up to 815m citizens. Energy and renewables have not featured prominently in the campaigns to date. Most political analysts believe that, come May, India’s primary opposition, the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP), might come into power. As a thought experiment, we assess the likely effect...

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Weekly Update: India’s subsidy scheme for de-centralized solar to stay subdued in 2014 as well

19 March 2014 | Jasmeet Khurana

Last financial year (April 2013- March 2014), the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) had received a budgetary allocation of INR 15.2 billion (USD 250 million) for various renewable energy programs. However, there was a mid-term course correction due to India’s high current account deficit situation and the actual disbursement ended up to be only INR 4.4 billion (USD 72 million). As...

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