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US market not worth the risk, says one of India's biggest solar companies

Solar manufacturer shifts focus to India’s booming domestic market as U.S. tariffs make exports unviable.

FILE PHOTO: Workers install photovoltaic solar panels at the Gujarat solar park in Charanka village in Patan district of the western Indian state of Gujarat April 14, 2012. / REUTERS/Amit Dave/File Photo

Saatvik Green Energy, one of India's biggest solar module makers by capacity, said on Oct. 9 it is shunning the once-promising U.S. export market as it is no longer "worth the risk" due to the thorny tariff issue.

The United States is India's top overseas market, accounting for 90 percent of module exports, according to industry officials and analysts.

"We want to be risk-free and focus on the domestic market," said CEO Prashant Mathur in a press conference. The company said in its initial public offering draft filing that it gets a portion of its revenue from exports to the U.S., but has not revealed how much.

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Saatvik Green Energy has joined major industry players in India in expanding their renewable energy capacity recently, both with an eye on exports and as the South Asian country targets 500 gigawatts of non-fossil fuel capacity by 2030.

However, U.S. tariffs of up to 50 percent on solar panel shipments from India and potential anti-dumping duties will pile on to the existing surplus in India next year as domestic project bidding slows, industry officials and analysts say.

Saatvik, which currently has a solar cell manufacturing capacity of 3.8 GW, plans to reach 4.8 GW by April 2027. Separately, it also plans to add 4 GW of solar module capacity by April 2026.

Mathur said the company is seeing extensive domestic demand, as many projects that were delayed due to land, transmission and tariff issues are being built now.

"We expect this demand to continue for the next few years," he added.

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