NSG waiver opens Rs 4 lakh cr investment gates

NEW DELHI: ENTHUSED by waiver granted by the 45-nation Nuclear Supplier Group, a British nuclear power industries delegation has arrived in India to explore the 100 billion dollars (Approximately Rs 4,00,000 crore) market.

The delegation led by UK Trade and Investment Chief Executive Andrew Cahn is meeting Indian officials and leaders. A meeting was also held with the Minister of State for Industry Ashwani Kumar. “We have discussed lots of possibilities for nuclear trade between India and UK,” Kumar told reporters after the meeting. Cahn said, “The UK office of Nuclear Development Programme was being set up to ensure effective nuclear supply chain and the British industries would like to collaborate with Indian industries for the same.” Among others, British delegation include Richard Lambert, Director General of Confederation of British Industries and Karan Billimoria, President, UK-India Business Council. India on September 6 secured a historic waiver from the NSG by consensus to carry out nuclear commerce and taking the Indo-US nuclear deal a step closer to fruition. Commenting on the investment between the countries, Cahn said, “We would like to encourage more investment in India. It is the 7th largest investor in UK, why it should not be 2nd or 3rd largest.” Ashwini Kumar also said that following the historical waiver by the NSG, India is expecting collaboration with Britain and other countries in the sector. This gives India de facto nuclear power status to India.” The annual trade between India and UK is about 8 billion pounds. Meanwhile, within days of Nuclear Suppliers Group giving a go-ahead to nuclear trade with India, industry body Assocham on Monday said about 40 companies, including Videocon and Sajjan Jindal Group, are in talks with companies abroad to set up power plants, envisaging an investment of about Rs 2 lakh crore. “We have already asked the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to amend the legislations regarding nuclear power to facilitate the entry of private sector in generation of nuclear power,” Venugopal Dhoot, past President of industry chamber Assocham, told reporters here. Welcoming the clearance given by NSG to India at Vienna, he said 40 companies are in the fray to set up nuclear power plants, which is likely to add 40,000 MW of power in the next 15 years. “As many as 40 companies have already started negotiating ,including Videocon and Sajjan Jindal Group and we are hoping in 15 years time maximum of Rs 2 lakh crore investment will be coming into the sector,” Assocham Secretary General D S Rawat said here. The power produced from the nuclear plants will be cheap and will reduce the overall tariffs, Dhoot said. Dhoot, who is also the Chairman and Managing Director of Videocon Group, said about 40 companies have talked to the Prime Minister and asked him to give opportunities to the private sector for generating nuclear power. The private sector will play a very important role in nuclear power production, he said. Presently, only Nuclear Power Corporation is permitted to enter the area, but the companies have talked to Prime Minister for amending the legislations so that private sector can also benefit from the sector, he added. He said it is up to industrial houses now to see how they can harness this opportunity for themselves and take the advantage. All interested companies are studying the ways to utilise nuclear power in India, he said. Meanwhile, he refused to divulge details about Videocon’s plans, saying we will do so at an appropriate time. Welcoming the NSG clearance, the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) has expressed confidence that the clearance will open up business worth Rs 1,20,000 crore for India besides meeting its energy needs to fuel its high rates of growth. “The development is a major confidence-building move for the international community to engage with India especially in high technology trade and will provide opportunity for Indian manufacturers to supply spares and components to the global manufacturers of nuclear power plants besides providing business opportunities for Indian power plant construction companies,” said Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, CII, in a press release issued on Monday. The CII said NSG clearance has now instilled confidence of business opportunities worth Rs 1,20,000 crore in the next 15 years which would add about 18-20 nuclear reactors at the cost of 5,000 to 6,000 crores each. The nuclear deal will also enable addition of new capacity and help fulfill the target of adding 63,000 MW by 2030. NSG clearance will also help India secure Uranium supplies for its existing capacities along with accessing reprocessing technology in order to reprocess the spent fuel and reduce the amount of radioactive waste. CII now looks forward to the US Congress approval of the deal.