Nuclear firms come calling this month

INDO-US NUCLEAR DEAL

Nuclear energy companies are going to be a significant part of the US trade delegation, the largest ever to any country, to visit India later this month, US Ambassador David Mulford has said.

This was just a part of the expanding trade and economic relations between India and the US, he said.

"The clearance to Jet Airways to fly to the US, the cooperation in military affairs (as was clear from a seminar held in the capital recently) and other joint military engagements, and future cooperation in weapon systems indicates how much Indo-US business relations have advanced and how much further they are likely to go," Mulford said at a press conference to highlight the many ways in which the civil nuclear deal would expand relations between the two countries.

He said the effect of the deal on business would be evident in a matter of months, and companies were already positioning themselves and making their business plans to take advantage of the deal when it was finally put in place.

The US India Business Council (USIBC) senses it can get more economic and business leverage in India. It is already asking its members -- many Fortune 500 companies -- especially companies involved in manufacturing defence equipment, to persuade India to formulate an indirect defence offset policy.

In a communication to its members, USIBC said direct offsets in the policy (that at least 30 per cent of defence equipment sold by a US company to India must be manufactured in India) would prove less lucrative than indirect offsets.

Direct offsets provide limited business advantage because of India's limited capacity to absorb offsets.

But, argues USIBC, expanding the scope of concessions to non-sensitive industries outside the defence sphere, such as those into R&D, commercial space, infrastructure, and manufacturing, could provide a better competitive advantage and returns for defence products.