40 companies in race to set up N-power plants

New Delhi: Within days of Nuclear Suppliers Group giving a go-ahead to nuclear trade with India, industry body Assocham said about 40 companies, including Videocon and Sajjan Jindal Group, are in talks with companies abroad to set up power plants, envisaging an investment of about Rs 2 lakh crore.

'We have already asked the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to amend the legislations regarding nuclear power to facilitate the entry of private sector in generation of nuclear power,' Venugopal Dhoot, past president of industry chamber Assocham, told reporters here.

Welcoming the clearance given by NSG to India at Vienna, he said 40 companies are in the fray to set up nuclear power plants, which is likely to add 40,000 Mw of power in the next 15 years.

'As many as 40 companies have already started negotiating ,including Videocon and Sajjan Jindal Group and we are hoping in 15 years time maximum of Rs 2 lakh crore investment will be coming into the sector,' Assocham Secretary General D S Rawat said here.

The power produced from the nuclear plant will be cheap and will reduce the overall tariffs, Dhoot said.