Publication - India's Energy Transition: The Impact of the Goods and Services Tax on Solar Photovoltaic and Coal Power Costs

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Title

India's Energy Transition: The Impact of the Goods and Services Tax on Solar Photovoltaic and Coal Power Costs

Publisher

Global Subsidies Initiative (GSI) of the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW)

Author

Abhinav Soman, Neil McCulloch, Harsimran Kaur and Christopher Beaton

Published in

March 2019

Abstract

One of the biggest causes of changes in India’s energy subsidy policy between FY2017 and FY2018 was the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST)—which overhauled a large share of India’s taxes, and, in doing so, its tax-related subsidies.

By removing exemptions and altering tax rates, the extent of preferential treatment for various energy sources has changed under the GST. Total tax subsidies to both solar PV and coal thermal power have been reduced, but the absolute size of the subsidy to coal-based power remains much higher than for solar PV.

By altering the net tax burden, the GST has also affected the cost of energy production. The calculations show that, assuming all other factors are held constant, the GST is likely to lead to a significant increase in the cost of generation for new solar PV plants. In contrast, existing coal-fired thermal power plants are likely to experience reduced variable costs under the GST. A lack of data on the fixed costs of new coal plants makes it impossible to calculate the impact of the GST on the overall cost of new coal plants.

The introduction of the GST therefore appears to provide a relative bias in favour of coal-based power.

Detailed assessments of the implications of GST on other renewable energy types including wind are needed to determine unintended impact on relative cost against coal.

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