GST hike on solar water heater decried

NT Correspondent
Bengaluru

The Centre's decision to hike Goods and Services Tax (GST) on solar water heaters and LED lamps has come in for sharp criticism from environmentalists in Bengaluru.

The government on Wednesday decided to hike the GST on solar water heaters to 12 percent from existing 5 percent. The tax on LED lamps and lights too has been hiked to 18 percent from the existing 12 percent.

Jhatkaa, a Bengaluru-based environmental conservation NGO, termed the hike unjust. Avijit Micheal, a project coordinator at Jhatkaa said solar energy is essential in reducing greenhouse gas emission and mitigating climate change.

"It is the need of the hour considering the current climate crisis. Solar energy can also improve air quality and reduce water use from energy production."

“People will always choose cheaper alternatives. If the government keeps increasing solar taxes, people will not buy it,” says Avijit. He said LED lights do not contain mercury and have a huge environmental impact than incandescent bulbs.

“If LEDs become more expensive, people will not buy them. This will eventually lead to people going for options that are not environment friendly,” he said.

At the 26th Conference of Parties (CoP26), Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared that India would meet 50 per cent of its energy requirements from renewable energy by 2030 and will reduce the total projected carbon emissions by one billion tonnes till 2030.

“The government made several promises to tackle the climate crisis, so they should be reducing taxes on renewable energy. But we can see that the taxes are increasing yearly for solar panels, modules and now solar water heaters,” Michael said.