July 12, 2011. Ending a federal tax break for wind farms in India, the largest market for turbines after China and the U.S., would cause a $540 million drop in demand just as suppliers including General Electric Co. (GE) expand local capacity. Wind park installations may fall 15 percent in the financial year starting April 2012 from the 2,600 megawatts projected for this year should the benefit be discontinued. The government wants to axe an accounting rule next year that encouraged companies to erect most of India’s 14,157 megawatts in wind projects as a way of cutting taxes rather than generating power. It favors a less-generous subsidy that companies have been slow to adopt. India’s biggest property developer DLF Ltd. and Hindustan Zinc Ltd., Vedanta Resources Plc, used the tax benefit called accelerated depreciation to build some of India’s largest wind farms, project design documents show. The accelerated depreciation accounting method allows companies to write off investments at a faster rate than normal, which reduces tax liabilities. The government says an alternative subsidy will do more to address a power deficit that tops 39 percent in some areas, hampering the second-fastest growing major economy after China. The Generation-Based Incentive rewards projects on how much clean energy they produce instead of the size of installations.