Kolkata: The countervailing duty of whopping 126% that US president Donald Trump has slapped on import of solar power equipment from India will have a limited impact, officials from the major manufacturer-exporters have said. On Wednesday morning the word spread quickly that Trump, who is yet to recover from the Supreme Court verdict declaring his retaliatory tariffs around the globe illegal, slapped the steep tariff on solar goods, one of the sectors of tomorrow which Indian companies ship to the US. Trump’s latest tariff move against India was targeted to neutralise any advantage that Indian manufacturer-exporters have due to the subsidy they get from the Indian govt.

“The recent US preliminary AD/CVD duties apply specifically to Indian-origin cells. Our US order strategy was not structured around sourcing Indian cells; we already operate with a diversified supply chain for that market, including sourcing from geographies with lower tariff exposure. As a result, the direct financial impact on us is limited,” Vikram Solar chairman and managing director Gyanesh Chaudhary told the media.

However, the stock price of solar power companies were impacted on Wednesday. Waaree Energies, which has thebiggest exposure to the US market, suffered a 10% decline in price on Feb 25.

Abhishek Pareek, Group Head, Finance, Waaree Energies said, “At this stage, the company does not anticipate any material adverse impact on its ability to service its US order book.” Incidentally, Waaree Energies is the company with the biggest exposure to the US. Apart from exporting to the US, this company is also setting up a manufacturing base in the US.

In the first nine months of the current financial year, Waaree Energies has increased shipments to the US despite the 50% duty on imports from India. However, the 126% was higher than any of the tariffs the US slapped on India or any country so far.

Vikram Solar referred to its growing domestic market and pointed to the 378.75 MW module order from Indian Oil-NTPC Green Energy for a large-scale project in Gujarat.

The other major solar power equipment company Premier Energies does not have a high exposure to the US in the first place. “Premier Energies has already reduced its share of exports in our business to almost nil and there is no impact of any US duties on our business,” said Vinay Rustagi, chief business officer of Premier Energies. The US policy has been focusing on to progressively ban all imports and this investigation was announced in August last year, Rustagi said.

India’s exports to the US dropped more than 50 per cent in 2025, and are currently estimated at only about 5-7% of the total Indian production of the solar market.

Emmvee Photovoltaic Power also said that the US countervailing tariff will have no impact on its business. This company’s integrated solar cell and module manufacturing is expected to cater to demand in the domestic market.

“The US tariffs on Indian solar imports may slow exports and push excess production into the domestic market, increasing price competition. However, the impact could vary from manufacturer to manufacturer, as many domestic manufacturers are importing cells from low-duty countries and assembling panels in India for export,” remarked Tarun Padhi, senior VP-operations Datta Power Infra Private Limited.