INNOVATIVE ERA OF SELF-RELIANT ECONOMY FOR INDIA

India being a developing nation is planning to be a self-reliant economy and for this to happen utmost importance must be given to innovation, investment, infrastructure. When the Export-Import ratio is considered, Import is much higher than Export in India. But now India is planning to set up its own solar equipment manufacturing unit. India wants to minimize its dependence on imported solar modules and cells. It is aiming to become a domestic manufacturing unit. According to the reports India’s exports of solar cells and modules to be almost doubled shortly. Now India has decided to establish a solar manufacturing unit near the ports. There are 12 major ports in the country with 1.10 Lakh hectares of land. India believes establishing a solar manufacturing unit near ports would definitely be cost-competitive and will also facilitate Exports.

Though India is running the world’s largest solar energy program, 80% of solar modules and cells are supplied by Chinese firms. India’s domestic manufacturing capacity for solar cells is only 3GW (gigawatt). But recently Adani Green Energy Ltd which has 1.5GW solar photovoltaic (PV) has bagged manufacturing linked solar contract that entails establishing 2GW of additional solar cell and module manufacturing capacity. Presently India has 34.6GW of solar power, but India has a target to have 100GW of solar capacity by 2022. Wafers and ingots are the most essential building block for manufacturing solar cells and modules. Globally ingots and wafers manufacturing is also dominated by China. Now to set up solar wafers and ingot capacity in the country, India has planned to come up with tenders that may provide viability gap funding to attract domestic manufacturers.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has mentioned as a part of Atma Nirbhar Bharat or a self-reliant India campaign, the country aims to cease its import dependence on all equipment which also includes solar panels. This is indeed a great push for India to become an integral part of the global supply chain.