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POLICY MEASURES IN VOGUE:
A host of fiscal incentives and facilities are available
to both manufacturers and users of renewable energy systems,
which include:
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100% accelerated depreciation for
tax purposes in the first year of the installation of
projects/systems.
-
No excise duty on manufacture of
most of the finished products.
-
Low import tariffs for capital equipment
and most of the materials and components.
-
Soft loans to manufacturers and users
for commercial and near commercial technologies.
-
Five year tax holiday for power generation
projects.
-
Remunerative price under alternate
power purchase policy by State Government for the power
generated through renewable energy systems, fed to the
grid by private sector.
-
Facility for Banking and wheeling
of power.
-
Facility for Third party sale of
renewable energy power.
-
Financial Incentives/Subsidies for
devices with high initial cost.
-
Involvement of women not only as
beneficiaries but also for their active contribution
in implementation of renewable energy programmes.
-
Encouragement to NGOs and small entrepreneurs.
-
Special thrust for renewable energy
in North-Eastern region of the country.10% of Plan funds
earmarked for North-East towards enhanced and special
subsidies.
The importance of Government Policy in the rapid adoption
and growth of renewable energy technologies cannot be
overemphasized. The subsidies, fiscal support, information,
and consultancy services provided by the MNES have and
will likely continue to be the single most important factor
in the growth of these technologies. This is because the
MNES has to essentially make these technologies competitive
with conventional technologies by helping overcome the
two primary problems of slightly higher costs and high
initial costs. Whether the MNES can continue to do so
successfully will largely determine the future of these
technologies in India. We should also note that the World
Bank, IMF, and Asian Development Bank have provided a
large portion of the financing for these projects. Since
it is most likely that the MNES cannot provide near the
same level of assistance to these projects the continuing
help (and hopefully increased help) of these multilateral
lending organizations is also vital to the development
of these technologies.
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