The Chairman of General Electric Jeff Immelt has ruled out India as a place to do business in nuclear power, saying that the liability laws of the country are not in line with the rest of the world.
“I am not going to put my company at risk for anything – there is no project that is worth it,” CNBC news quoted Immelt as saying.
“We have to get common language on this,” Immelt said to reporters. “There is an extremely standard liability regime that the rest of the world has adopted and as we go forward and think about investing, whatever happens has to [be] homogenized between India and the rest of the world.”
Immelt made his comments after meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi.
Prior to the meeting, Immelt said that India's gains in transportation infrastructure opened up possibilities for GE to do business in India. But he said the company would expand in the areas of locomotives, aviation and healthcare. He then pitched for changes in Indian law that would support GE's efforts to expand its presence in India in the power generation business.
Immelt's meeting with Modi came just before the prime minister's scheduled visit to Washington, which is set for Sept. 26-30.
The prime minister met with President Obama in January and mapped out what appeared to be ground-breaking details on insurance policy that would open the door in India for U.S. nuclear power companies. But the deal did not change Indian liability law enough to suit GE's needs.
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