Chinese vendors dominate supply chain of Indian solar PLI

Renewable energy sector leaders in India have listed Chinese vendors as major suppliers in the PLI scheme. Reliance New Energy Solar and Tata Power are among the companies that have listed Chinese suppliers.

A majority of the winners of India’s PLI scheme have listed supply chain partners and service providers from China, according to a report.

Renewable energy sector leaders such as Reliance New Energy Solar, Tata Power, ReNew Solar, Avaada Electro, and Waaree Energies have listed vendors from China as major suppliers.

Indosol (Shridi Sai), one of the winners in the first tranche of solar PLI, has listed 94 vendors of which 65 are Chinese whereas Reliance New Energy listed all its 20 foreign vendors from China.

However, Adani Mundra, the solar manufacturing division of Adani Group has not submitted any names to the government yet.

Tata Power Solar, winner of the second tranche of the PLI scheme has mentioned seven suppliers/supply chain partners of which four have Chinese origin, two are from Germany, and one from Singapore, respectively.

Waaree Energies, one of India’s oldest solar equipment manufacturers has 17 supply chain partners for its PLI project are all Chinese.

Among other firms, VSL Solar, AMPIN Solar, and Grew Energy have more than 90% of their vendors from China.

The firms have submitted the list to the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy to facilitate the grant of visas for foreign experts of agencies.

Since India’s solar module manufacturing capacity is at a nascent stage, the supply chain needed to set up is also China-dominated.

The PLI scheme for solar is aimed at boosting the domestic supply chain of solar power equipment, and reducing the dependency on imports.

Around 70% of India’s solar power generation capacity is built on China-made solar equipment.

The government in 2021 announced PLI schemes for 14 sectors such as telecommunication, white goods, textiles, manufacturing of medical devices, automobiles, speciality steel, food products, high-efficiency solar PV modules, advanced chemistry cell battery, drones, and pharma, with an outlay of ₹1.97 lakh crore.

The schemes aim to attract investments in key sectors and cutting-edge technology; ensure efficiency, bring economies of size and scale in the manufacturing sector and make Indian companies and manufacturers globally competitive.

The objective is to bring all stakeholders on a common platform, fostering a sense of ownership to facilitate exchange of knowledge and experiences, good practices and success stories, ultimately contributing to the successful implementation of PLI schemes.