United States may complain to WTO against India in Solar power

New Delhi, Dec 2017: India has failed to comply with a World Trade Organization ruling on solar power, the United States may tell the WTO's dispute settlement body (DSB) next month, triggering a fresh round of litigation, according to an agenda issued on Wednesday.

India unveiled its national solar programme in 2011, seeking to ease chronic energy shortages in Asia's third-largest economy without creating pollution.

But the United States complained to the WTO in 2013, saying the programme was discriminatory and U.S. solar exports to India had fallen by 90 percent from 2011.

The United States won the case last year, when WTO appeals judges ruled India had broken the trade rules by requiring solar power developers to use Indian-made cells and modules.

Under an agreement with the United States, India had until Dec. 14 to comply with the ruling and it told the DSB last week that it had done so. But as the date ended US again plans to raise the dispute again, citing WTO rules on non-compliance with trade rulings.