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00:00There's another counter that's moving which is borosil renewables and if you can pull

00:06up the chart yeah it's up about nine percent at this juncture as well we saw a lot of gains

00:11yesterday as well yeah yeah and this is all because of what was announced during the budget

00:16now the government what they've decided is not to extend the exemption of basic custom

00:22duties on solar glass that was previously extended from March 2024 to September 2024

00:28now the import of solar glass will attract a 10 percent customs duty from October and

00:34the government also gave us more perspective on how the rooftop solar scheme for one crore

00:38households has you know translated through in terms of applications and to talk about

00:42all of this in the space in general we're joined by Pradeep Kumar Kheruka who's the

00:47chairman at borosil renewables good afternoon Mr. Kheruka

00:50yes so you know up first I would like to talk about the you know the move that has been

00:57in focus and that is the non-extension of the exemption of the custom duty custom duties

01:03on solar glass which is a key positive for the company itself could you give us more

01:07perspective on how this impacts the company and the industry as a whole

01:12well actually the exemption was announced originally in 1999 when India wanted to promote

01:18its solar manufacturing and no component used in the manufacture of solar module was made

01:25in India so at the time they had decided to make it inexpensive and thereby they had

01:30given an exemption to all the materials that went into the production of solar modules

01:37in about two years ago they had decided to withdraw the exemption on solar cells and

01:45customs duty was 25 percent was imposed on import of solar cells and 40 percent on built-up

01:50modules unfortunately at the time the other components were not considered and solar

01:58glass is a very capital intensive component which is used in the manufacture of solar

02:04module and it is a long gestation period between the time that you decide to set up the plant

02:10and the day you come into production so we have been representing this to the government

02:15for a long time and we are very happy that our voice has been heard and we are grateful

02:20to the finance minister for having agreed to withdraw the exemption from payment of

02:26customs duty on solar glass and copper strips and they have imposed a certain import duty

02:33on that which is going to go a long way in supporting the industry we are faced with

02:40an exporter which is China which has decided to dominate the entire industry worldwide

02:47they gave all kinds of support to the industry and these are the barriers by which we are

02:54able to have a level playing field so gratitude to the government for this right Mr. Kheruka

03:01also can you maybe dive into a little bit of numbers about how what will be the difference

03:06now in terms of what you're producing versus what's landing in from China like you mentioned

03:14see about last year's numbers were 700,000 tons of solar glass imported into India which

03:21is massive this is the output from several factories not one meanwhile what has been

03:27happening in our own country in India is that from just Borosil as a manufacturer of solar

03:33glass in 2023 alone we have seen the commissioning of four other factories so four other factories

03:43have come into India and from 180 tons per day in 2019 we are today at 2,300 tons per

03:50day that's a massive increase so Indian entrepreneurs are not lagging behind in meeting the demand

03:59of the nation towards making you know solar components and solar modules we have seen

04:06similarly a dramatic rise in the production of solar modules and my hats off to the government

04:16for having introduced the scheme of doubling the outlay for solar rooftops it's a massive

04:23thing it's massive because it's going to bring a free electricity directly into the hands

04:29of the consumer which would be a very big thing the second thing is going to be uninterrupted

04:34so during the day there's no question of a power outage because you're generating your

04:37own electricity you're self-sufficient and I think that's been a remarkable initiative

04:43by the government and so for all these reasons I see the demand going up significantly a

04:50big boost and hence we would be able to meet this demand so good step for the industry

04:58Mr. Kherag, I'm glad you touched upon the rooftop solar scheme you know I was just about

05:02to talk you know about how the solar industry as a whole has been growing in India as well

05:08as you know this initiative kind of bringing in more demand I want to know how is the domestic

05:13outlook looking at right now at current capacity and you know with the relief of the customs

05:17duty coming in would we see a demand pickup for the company in the second half of this

05:23financial year?

05:25See the situation is always a little more complex than what appears on the surface and

05:32solar glass is no exception what the government of China I think probably had a sense that

05:38this is going to happen so they reduced prices of solar glass before the before the budget

05:45was announced by 12 to 15 percent so they have tried to match the duty by reducing their

05:51prices and all of that is there but as I was saying to somebody a little while ago I've

05:58been in the glass business for 55 years now and I've weathered many storms I've seen lots

06:03of competition I've never surrendered before these things so when times get tough we sharpen

06:11our tools we narrow our vision and we put our shoulder to the task I'm very happy to

06:17say that my team in Borosil is equal to the job and we are cutting down costs and improving

06:25efficiencies so we are going to face this together and of course the government has

06:32announced its support which for us is a very very big thing we do have an anti-dumping

06:37duty application which has been filed and that's under investigation so let us see what

06:44the future holds for us but this act of the government has certainly instilled confidence

06:49in me.

06:50I also want to touch upon a little bit about the export market Mr. Kheruka I mean 20% of

06:55the revenues in FY24 came from the export markets how are the US and Europe markets

07:01you know looking like and also maybe give us some update on how your Germany manufacturing

07:06capacity is working.

07:08So fortunately the German capacity is working on full production there is a hiccup in Europe

07:17or there was a hiccup in Europe a little while ago because there were very severe price

07:23competition in Europe as well from Chinese module manufacturers so our European customers

07:29were module makers in Europe some of them shut shop but in the meantime the European

07:34Parliament has passed has sanctioned the grant of certain incentives to people to use European

07:43modules and the government of Italy and the government of Austria has already announced

07:49those incentives which has again caused a spurt in module manufacturing in Europe in

07:54Italy and in Austria and I think that France is going to follow suit and Germany cannot

08:01lag behind too far from this so with this initiative in Europe we see that there could

08:09be a there's likely to be an improvement in demand for the time being we are also shipping

08:15glass from our German factory into the United States and to other export markets so we are

08:22able to run fully and with further help coming our way we hope that it's going to improve

08:30further.

08:31Right Mr. Kheruka I just you know before I let you go one last question that is on the

08:35capacity expansion of plans 1100 tons per annum of capacity has been kept on hold for

08:40a while now will the company be going forward with this expansion this year or not?

08:46Well we have all the we have all the points in place to go for expansion but that's a

08:55decision we have to take at the board level which has not been taken so far and we were

09:00waiting for things to happen and now well this action has happened and this will prompt

09:06us to meet again reconsider our options we've going ahead with the rights issue which we're

09:12going to use the proceeds to reduce our debt and become you know a little better financially

09:18so I think things are in place and let's see what good comes out of this.

09:27Thank you so much Mr. Kheruka for joining us on the show today it was a pleasure having you.

09:33Thank you.

Import Of Solar Glass Will Attract 10% Customs Duty From Oct | NDTV Profit

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