The Hindu Business Line : GE chief meets Lalu, top PMO officials

Probing mission
Meeting more of an `exploration of plans of Indian Railways'
Discussions on rolling stock acquisition plans of the Railways
GE Chief also met Dr Naresh Trehan to continue discussions on Medicity project

EXPLORING OPTIONS: Mr Jeffrey R. Immelt, Chairman & CEO, General Electric, with Mr Lalu Prasad, Minister for Railways, at his chamber in the Capital on Wednesday. - Kamal Narang

New Delhi , May 31

Visiting GE Chief Executive Officer, Mr Jeffrey R. Immelt, on Wednesday met the Union Minister for Railways, Mr Lalu Prasad Yadav, National Security Adviser, Mr M.K. Narayanan, and the Prime Minister's Principal Scientific Adviser, Mr R. Chidambaram, on the Delhi leg of his two-day India tour.

GE made enquiries about Railways' acquisition plans in the areas of signalling and other electrical equipment. No agreements were signed and the meeting was more of an "exploration of plans of Indian Railways". There were discussions on rolling stock acquisition plans of the Railways — locomotive and heavy-axle load wagons, rolling stock leasing, said Ministry sources.

Railways, meanwhile, shared its plans on dedicated freight corridor, opening up of containerised sector, public-private partnership in construction of multi-modal logistic parks and inland container depots. Apart from the Railway Minister, senior Railway officials, including the Railway Board Chairman, Mr J.P. Batra, Member Mechanical, Mr R.R. Bhandari, and the Finance Commissioner, were present during the meeting.

Gathering support

In the meetings with Mr Chidambaram and Mr Narayanan, Mr Immelt is believed to have spelt out the company's efforts to drum up support for the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal, which is being hotly debated in the US currently. Mr Immelt is a significant campaign contributor to the US President, Mr George W Bush, and GE is widely expected to be among the biggest beneficiaries if the Indo-US deal, which is currently under scrutiny by the US Congress, goes through.

Mr Immelt had earlier indicated during his visit here last May that GE could help India achieve energy security by increasing its nuclear power capability. "Nuclear power is a part of energy development solutions in terms of cost and also energy security... If greenhouse gasses are bad, nuclear energy is the answer. Nuclear energy is the definitive generating source of the future," he had said at a Confederation of Indian Industry meeting.

What the deal means to GE

For GE, the only major US-owned company still in the nuclear business, the deal would mark a possible turning point in its efforts to re-enter the Indian nuclear power market. GE was forced to exit the country's civil nuclear sector in 1974 when India conducted its first nuclear test.

If the deal goes through, GE, which built the Tarapur atomic station, could be looking at resuming fuel sales to the plant. In addition, GE could move quickly to offer technical and maintenance services for Indian nuclear plants, and eventually bid to build new reactors here. Mr Peter Wells, Marketing Manager for GE Energy's nuclear business, had earlier said that the company expects to see about 17 new nuclear stations coming up in India.

Mr Immelt, during his current visit to Delhi, also met Dr Naresh Trehan to continue the discussions on the Medicity project, an integrated healthcare facility to come up in Gurgaon. Beyond financial investment, GE is also slated to provide end-to-end early disease prediction, diagnosis and monitoring tools such as advanced medical diagnostics, cathlabs, anaesthesia systems and partner in clinical research and education programmes.

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