Borosil Renewables Pin Growth Hopes On Solar Glass Import Curbs

Borosil Renewables Ltd.'s topline is expected to grow, driven by a price correction in the domestic market following the government's imposition of an anti-dumping duty on solar glass imports from China and Vietnam, according to the company’s Chairman, Pradeep Kumar Kheruka.

The government will now impose a provisional anti-dumping duty on solar glass imports from China and Vietnam for six months. This comes after companies like Borosil Renewables urged the government to take action to stop China from dumping cheaper solar glass into India.

Talking to NDTV Profit, Kheruka, who is also the president of the Solar Ancillary Manufacturers' Association, said that the domestic markets will see a price ‘correction’ as a result of the anti-dumping duty.

“There will be a price correction in the domestic market, but nowhere near the full extent of the duty. We shall continue to behave with responsibility in terms of our pricing,” he said.

He noted that China was dumping solar glass into India at around 38% cheaper prices. 

“No price of raw material or cost of conversion has dropped by that much. So this is clearly a very predatory intent on their part to wipe out the glass industry in India,” he said.

The top executive revealed that Borosil Renewables was using 970 tonnes out of its current 1,000-tonne capacity. 

“This (anti-dumping) will give us a reason to try and push production… To the extent that the price might rise, the selling price, of course, our topline would rise according to that,” he said.

Speaking about increasing solar glass production volumes of Borosil Renewables, the chairman revealed that the company has always had a “track record of reinvestment.”

“As soon as we had the anti-dumping duty, which was installed in August 2017, we were already in production with double the production in June 2019 within less than 24 months of the duty coming in place. Soon after that, we further doubled our production,” he said.

“So we continue to reinvest our profits in growth and expansion, and that has been our track record,” Kheruka added.

Shares of Borosil Renewables Ltd. continued their gaining streak to trade 2.81% higher on the NSE on Monday at Rs 589.05 apiece. In contrast, benchmark Nifty 50 was 0.06% higher at 24,634.95 points.