Forty domestic companies, including the Videocon group, Jindal Power and Tata Power, have formed a group to convince the central government to allow private participation in generation of civilian nuclear energy.
This comes in the wake of India getting a waiver from the 45-member Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) to carry out trade in nuclear products and technologies. However, Indian laws do not allow private companies to generate nuclear power.
“These 40 companies have already started negotiations with the government and their foreign counterparts,” Venugopal N Dhoot, immediate past president of Assocham, said while releasing a study by the industry body on the measures to be taken to achieve 15 per cent growth rate in the manufacturing sector. “In 15 years, a minimum of Rs 2 lakh crore is expected in nuclear power generation,” he added.
The group wants an amendment in the law, the Atomic Energy Commission Act, which mandates only Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) to generate power from nuclear fuels. The Act says “the central government shall have the power to produce, develop, use and dispose atomic energy either by itself or through any authority or corporation established by it or a government company and carry out research into any matters connected therewith”.
Dhoot said if the Indo-US civil nuclear agreement came through, it would help generate an additional 40,000 Mw in 15 years and thus reduce the price of power.
The study, “Indian Manufacturing: Aiming to achieve 15 per cent sustainable growth,” focused on the strategies for achieving 15 per cent growth in the manufacturing sector on the backdrop of 9-10 per cent GDP growth, Dhoot said. The study mentions how foreign industries can take advantage of cheap labour in India. It also compares the industrial sectors of India and China.
The manufacturing sector, which has the highest weight in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), has been growing at a slow pace of 6.6-8.8 per cent during the past five years. The share of manufacturing in the industry sector went down to 15.5 per cent last year from about 18 per cent in 1995-96.
Expressing his views on the Tata Motors pulling out of Singur, Dhoot said the industry should learn from the controversy. “We (manufacturers) should not overburden the state government on land acquisition. Manufacturers should talk to the farmers themselves. The state government can only provide infrastructure,” he said.
