India-US N-deal is a 'major breakthrough': India Inc

New Delhi, Mar 16: As the India-US nuclear energy deal goes to the US Congress today (Mar 16, 2006) for ratification, an overwhelming 92 per cent of India's top CEOs and Managing Directors described the Bush-Manmohan agreement as a 'major breakthrough' in ending India's prolonged isolation and technology denial from the powerful Nuclear Suppliers' Group.

A quick ASSOCHAM Business Barometer (ABB) Survey of 25O CEOs and the MDs shows that the India Inc is quite euphoric about the India-US Energy Cooperation Agreement and believes that the deal would go down as a turning point in India-US relations.

''The cooperation agreement would not only catapult India into a different league of nations but would also meet the country's increasing demand for clean power,'' they said.

As many as 79 per cent of the corporate heads polled by the ABB felt that the agreement with the US meant much more than a mere energy cooperation. The Bush-Manmohan Agreement marked the end of three decades of nuclear isolation and denial of technology.

However, about 40 per cent of the respondents were concerned about the criticism in the US press about the US treating India differently from other nuclear states. They felt that despite criticism from ardent Indian supporters like Thomas Friedman of the New York Times and the Economist, President George W Bush would be able to get the deal ratified by the Congress, given India's improving image of an economic leader in the developing world.

Besides, India has emerged a strategic nation not only to the US State Department but also to most of the best names in Wall Street.

Over 50 per cent of the US Fortune 500 companies outsource their IT requirements from India.

''Given the rising profile of India as one of the fastest growing economies upholding its democratic values, I see India and the US as natural allies,'' ASSOCHAM President Anil K Agarwal said.

An overwhelming 89 per cent of those polled said that the new paradigm shift in the world nuclear order would make the global giants like General Electric and other US and European firms make a beeline for investment in the civilian nuclear power plants.

UNI

Related Story