Despite the risks posed by U.S. anti-dumping/countervailing duty (AD/CVD) petitions, Indian solar companies are downplaying potential impacts on their exports.

Solar cell and module manufacturers exporting to the U.S. dismiss claims that Indian companies are selling below cost or that the government has subsidized them.

A few prominent American companies, under the banner of The Alliance for American Solar Manufacturing and Trade (AASMT), recently filed petitions seeking AD/CVD investigations into solar imports from India, Indonesia, and Laos.

These petitions allege that companies based in India were engaging in illegal trade practices by undercutting the U.S. solar manufacturing industry and flooding the market with cheaper imports. The petitions seek a dumping margin of 213.96% against Indian solar imports.

“I think the investigation has just begun. And there is a pretty long period for these investigations to get completed, and any duty to get effective,” said Vinay Rustagi, Director at Premier Energies, at a recent investors’ call.

He said the two main grounds for any such duty are that the exporters are selling goods at below the cost, which “is definitely not the case in India.” The second main ground is companies receiving government subsidies, which again is not true.

Rustagi said there was no case for U.S. manufacturers to demand any import duties because the cell capacity in the U.S. is “actually very, very limited in relation to the domestic demand. So, for them to claim injury because of any cheap or subsidized imports from India is not actually a legitimate argument. That is why I say that we do not believe that there’s any kind of solid ground for this investigation.”

Another module manufacturer, Waaree Energies, which has set up facilities in the U.S., concurs. “There is no question of any predatory pricing policy … we are in a position of strength when we are going to talk to the U.S. authorities about the AD/CVD investigation. We will be in a position to defend our case well,” Amit Paithankar, CEO at Waaree Energies, told analysts in a post-earnings call.

The issue figured at the recent Mercom India Renewables Summit 2025, where two solar module manufacturers dismissed U.S. companies’ grounds for an AD/CVD probe.

“None of us are supplying modules because we have excess capacity. Neither are we circumventing products from different countries. India also has a strong domestic demand, and our manufacturing sector is not being set up to export,” said Suhas Donthi, President and CEO at Emmvee Group.

Prashant Mathur, CEO at Saatvik Solar, also emphasized that India was not subsidizing solar module manufacturing to sell below cost.

The trade petitions against Indian companies come at a time when the U.S. has emerged as the biggest destination for Indian solar cell and module exports. In the first quarter of 2025, the U.S. accounted for 99.5% of the total solar exports.

According to Indian government data, solar modules and cells worth $1.5 billion were exported to various countries in 2024. Modules made up 97.7% of total shipments, with cells accounting for 2.3%.