'Transform, Energise and Clean India' is the agenda set by the government for the country for 2017-18, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said in his Budget 2017 speech.
'Transform, Energise and Clean India' is the agenda set by the government for the country for 2017-18, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said in his Budget 2017 speech.
While the 'Clean' part of the TECIndia agenda stands for "Clean the country from the evils of corruption, black money and non-transparent political funding," the Budget also brought in relief for companies engaged in the creation of renewable energy in the country.
Budget 2017 either reduced or completely did away with taxes and levies on machinery used for the general of solar cells, wind energy, fuel cells, biogas, and more.
The Budgetary allocation to the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy was hiked by 8.7% to Rs 5,036 crore to Rs 5,473 crore.
For solar cells and solar power:
The basic customs duty on solar tempered glass for use in the manufacture of solar cells, panels and modules has been removed completely. Earlier a BCD of 5% was levied.
BCD is an additional custom duty is charged in lieu of the excise duty duty applicable on similar goods manufactured and produced in India.
The parts and raw materials for the use in the manufacture
The government has cut the Countervailing Duty (CVD) by half on the parts and the raw materials used to manufacture solar tempered glass.
Countervailing Duty (CVD) is an additional import duty charged on imported goods.
Solar tempered glass is used in solar photovoltaic cells and modules, solar power generating equipment or systsm, flat plate solar collector, solar photovoltaic module and panel for water pumping and others.
In the Budget presentation, Jaitley said, "It is proposed to feed about 7,000 (train) stations with solar power in the medium term. A beginning has already been made in 300 stations. Works will be taken up for 2,000 railway stations as a part of 1000 MW solar mission."
Wind Energy
The BCD, CVD and Special Application Tax on resin and catalysts used in the manufacture of cast components for Wind Operated Energy Generators [WOEG] have been eased to give a push to wind power generation.
On these, BCD has been cut from 7.5% to 5%, CVD has been reduced to zero from 12.5%, a huge cut, and the SAD has been brought down to nil from 4%. Special Additional Duty (SAD) is levied on all imports.
Fuel cell based power generation
The levies on the import of machinery used for fuel cell based power generation has also been reduced in the Budget. The Annexure said reduced the BCD on the machinery from 7.5% - 10% to 5% while the cut was cut by half to 6% from the earlier 12.5%.
However, this is subject to certain specified conditions.
Biogas
The Budget cut the BCD on machinery used in balance of systems operating on biogas/ biomethane/ by-product hydrogen to 5% from the earlier 7.5% - 10% and CVD to 6% from the earlier 12.5% levy.
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