Public and private power producers will continue to get duty benefits on import of equipment till the end of 11th Five-Year Plan: Shinde

Public and private power producers will continue to get duty benefits on the import of equipment till the end of the 11th Five-Year Plan (2007-12), Power Minister Sushilkumar Shinde today said. Under the Mega Power Policy, the import of equipment for thermal projects with a capacity of 1,000 MW and above and hydel plants of more than 500 MW are exempted from excise and customs duty.

The power projects which do not fall in the mega-power project category are subject to 5 per cent excise and customs duty. "We have assured that till the end of Eleventh Five year Plan (March 31, 2012), the public and private power producers get duty benefits on import of equipment," Shinde replied when asked about the Power Ministry''s view on the issue of scrapping the policy to give a level playing field to domestic equipment producers.

The ministry has reportedly circulated a Cabinet proposal for imposing 10 per cent import duty on power equipment, besides a 5 per cent countervailing duty and 4 per cent special additional duty. Shinde said, "We have made a strong case that private developers, those who are adding power generation capacity, should not bear any loss." Out of the total installed power capacity of over 1,62,000 MW in the country, the private sector contributes over 30,000 MW, or about 14 per cent.