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Anil Sasi
Preeti Mehra

New Delhi, Sept. 2 A delayed Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) approval for the Indo-US nuke deal could be bad news for US reactor manufacturers eyeing the Indian atomic power space. With opposition within the 45-member NSG for an India-specific waiver refusing to die down, US companies run the risk of losing out on the first set of contracts on offer in India to potential competitors from other countries.

General Electric Co, the world’s largest power equipment maker and a key nuclear reactor player, has voiced its concerns about the possibility of the Indo-US nuclear deal not making it to the US Congress in time for ratification before the impending presidential elections, a prerequisite for American firms to kick-off business in India.

“It (delay in US Congressional approval) is a concern… The US is going to be shutting down, it is getting into election mode and as a result, post September 26, there are not going to be any more (Congress) sessions. So there is a timing issue,” GE India’s President and CEO, Mr T.P. Chopra, told Business Line.

Firms from countries such as France and Russia, which do not have domestic legislations prohibiting trade with a non-NPT signatory, could technically be in a position to enter India as and when the NSG waiver goes through. Besides GE, the Pennsylvania-based Westinghouse is another key reactor manufacturer that needs US Congressional approval to enter India.

While the crucial India-specific safeguards sailed through at the IAEA, the NSG meeting in Vienna on August 22 ended without consensus. The next gathering is set for September 4, even as a fast-track NSG waiver for India appears increasingly remote. The US Congress, starting its next session on September 8, might not have enough time to endorse the US-India nuke deal before it adjourns on September 26.

A lame-duck Congressional session after the November 4 elections has already been ruled out.

On the possibility of non-US suppliers capitalising on the opportunity, Mr Chopra, however, said: “Whether that benefits the French or the Russians, I don’t know… India is also going into election mode and whether any major decisions are made between now and the elections, I really don’t know.”

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