A Planning Commission proposal to impose a duty on imported equipment has not found favour with the power ministry. It has cautioned that imposition of any such duty at this stage will jeopardise the country's power capacity addition programme.Power Secretary H.S. Brahma, in a recent letter to Cabinet Secretary K.M. Chandrasekhar, said, “The ministry of power has serious reservations on the timing of implementation of the measures par- ticularly on imposing a duty on the imported equipment.“
The proposal to levy a duty on imported equipment, essentially from China, was taken up after domestic equipment sup- pliers, including Larsen and Toubro and BHEL, had written to the government to protect the interest of domestic manufacturers.
“The ministry of power is of the clear view that measures should be effective from April 2012 --the beginning of the 12th Plan and not with immediate effect -- so that the capacity addition programme does not suffer disruption,“ the letter said.
Chinese power equipment are cheaper than the Indian ones by 10-15 per cent.
“As most of the ongoing power projects have already placed equipment supply orders on Chinese companies and other overseas manufacturers, any fresh levy at this stage will alter the project economics, thereby disrupting timely commissioning of projects,“ a senior power ministry official said.
Thermal capacity of 21,055 MW for the 11th Plan (out of which 2,865 MW has been commissioned) and 13,870 MW for the 12th Plan has been ordered on Chinese manufacturers.The country plans to set up an additional capacity of 100,000 MW during the 12th Plan
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