India's solar cell and module imports decline by 20% and 57% in first eight months of 2024-25: Report

India is making significant strides towards becoming self-reliant in solar cell and module manufacturing.

As per estimates from Rubix, an analytics services provider, imports of solar cells and modules declined by 20 per cent and 57 per cent respectively in the first eight months of 2024-25.

Notably, Rubix noted that imports from China have decreased significantly, dropping from over 90 per cent to 56 per cent for solar cells and 65 per cent for modules in 2023-24.

Naming TP Solar (Tata Power's solar manufacturing arm), Reliance Industries, Waaree Energies, Vikram Solar, Gautam Solar, AdSolar, and Rene, Rubix said all these companies are planning capacity expansions in the gigawatt range.

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«Additionally, the Indian Government's policy shifts are encouraging local production,» Rubix categorically said.

Besides, support under Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme is also set to enhance local production even more.
Despite these strides, India will still need to rely on imports for solar photovoltaic cells and wafers due to the limited domestic manufacturing capacity for cells and the absence of wafer production facilities, Rubix noted.

With the increase in domestic manufacturing, Indian photovoltaic manufacturers are increasingly targeting the export market.
«India primarily exports solar modules. The export of solar cells is negligible. In fact, India's exports of solar modules

were nearly 35 times that of its solar cell exports (in terms of value) in 2023-24,» Rubix said.

Indian