Tata Power Solar to invest in plant upgrade.

After having been 'burnt' over the last two years, Tata Power Solar is now mulling investing in 'strategically upgrading our equipment', says the company's CEO, Ajay Goel.

Embedded in his statement is the message that sums up how 'solar' is trending in India.

'A year ago we were wondering if there was a future for us,' Goel told Business Line last week. Now the company is thinking of investing. 'The mood of the (manufacturing) industry has changed from “despondency to cautious optimism.'

A year ago, the future of Indian companies that produced solar cells and modules (modules are made with cells) hung tenuously on to a government's rule that a specified chunk of government-procured solar energy should come from plants that used locally made modules. The 'domestic content requirement' was under fire at the World Trade Organisation and local module manufacturers were demanding protection from 'dumped' Chinese products.


HBL