India - Nuclear deal to attract 200,000 crore investment in Power sector

With the Indo-US nuclear deal to be a reality soon, the power sector will attract investment to the tune of about Rs 200,000 crore, according to the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry in India (Assocham), the apex industrial body in India.

“In fifteen years time, a minimum of Rs 2 lakh crore is expected to go for nuclear power generation,” said Venugopal N Dhoot, immediate past president of Assocham while releasing a study carried out by Assocham on the measures to be put in place to achieve 15 per cent growth rate in the manufacturing sector.
Manufacturing sector which has been assigned the highest weight in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), has grown at a slow pace of 6.6 to 8.8 per cent in the past five years.
The share of manufacturing has also remained unsatisfactory, going down to 15.5 per cent last year from 18 per cent in 1995-96.
Dhoot, who is also the managing director of the Videocon group of Industries, added that 40 Indian companies including Videocon group, Jindal power and Tata power, have already started negotiations with the government and their foreign counterparts for nuclear power generation.
He also added that as the Indo-US civil nuclear agreement comes through, it will help generate an additional 40,000 mw of power in 15 years and thus reduce the price of power.
The study titled, “Indian Manufacturing : aiming to achieve 15 per cent sustainable growth” focuses on the strategies to be formulated for achieving a 15 per cent growth in manufacturing sector on the backdrop of a 9-10 per cent GDP growth, Dhoot said.
The study also mentions how foreign industries can take the advantage of cheap labour cost in India. It also draws a comparison of India’s industrial sector with that of China.
Expressing his views on the Tata Motors pulling out of Singur, he said that the industry should learn lesson from the controversy.
“We (manufacturers) should not overburden the state government to have land acquisition. manufacturers should talk to the farmers themselves. State government can only provide infrastructure,” he said.