Govt may try to allay fears of industry chambers

The Union government plans to reach out to the domestic chambers and business lobbies which are apprehensive about the amendments in Civil Nuclear Liability Bill cleared in the Lok Sabha yesterday.

According to a preliminary assessment of the Centre, the Civil Nuclear Liability Bill will facilitate nuclear commerce worth at least $150 billion (over '7 lakh crore) over the next 20 years.

“We will talk to these chambers and try to allay their fears,” Minister of State for Science and Technology Prithviraj Chavan told reporters here today.

The government will also try to ensure that domestic firms don’t miss out opportunities in this arena of frontier technology and business. According to Chavan, the Jaitapur plant in Maharashtra alone is capable of generating a business of '90,000 crore in the next eight to ten years for suppliers.

Top United Progressive Alliance (UPA) sources also reveal that while Japanese companies are expected to bag many contracts for supply of materials, US companies are set to gain at least $20 billion through intellectual property rights alone.

Chavan also said the government was keen to see that domestic companies grew up in this sector and contribute increasingly in nuclear commerce. “Our hope and endeavour will be to see domestic companies grow up to global standards in the coming days and are able to offer more to this sector. Even while we begin a new era, a lot of business will go to Indian companies,” Chavan said.

While Parliament debated the contentious nuclear liability Bill, industry chambers like Ficci and CII had written letters to the government expressing apprehensions over the provision on suppliers’ liability in the Bill. The two chambers said that the proposed provision jeopardises the participation of Indian industry, not only in future programmes but also in supporting the country’s existing 17 nuclear power plants.

Bill to be tabled in RS today

The Civil Nuclear Liability Bill, passed in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, will be tabled in the Rajya Sabha on Monday for passing. The government had initially planned to pass the Bill today in the Rajya Sabha, but it appears the UPA managers had to wait for the President’s approval on the revised Bill.