Condensed from "US Seeks Billions of Dollars in Indian Deals," copyright Amols Sharma of the Wall Street Journal, which was published in the Cambodia Daily, Oct. 19, 2010. All text below is copyright Sharma/the Wall Street Journal.
NEW DELHI – The US is aiming to sell up to $5.8 billion of military-transport aircraft to India and secure other major deals when US President Barack Obama travels to New Delhi early next month.
India is set to buy 10 Boeing Co C-17 transport aircraft in the country's largest military transaction yet with the US, people familiar with the matter said. The exact price is still to be determined. The total value of deals agreed to during the trip could reach $10 to $12 billion, including pacts for India to buy military jet engines from General Electric Co, freight locomotives, and reconnaissance aircraft.
The visit comes as some Western companies that have made big bets in India – or plan to – are growing increasingly frustrated with restrictive regulations in energy, technology, health care and banking. Obama is likely to raise concerns with market access – among other issues – during his visit, a White House spokesman said Sunday.
Topping the list of US concerns is [a] civil nuclear-energy partnership, people familiar with the matter say. Though a 2008 deal ended US sanctions against India imposed after its past nuclear-weapons tests, US firms including GE aren't selling nuclear technology here yet. They are worried about a recently passed Indian law that exposes them to accident liability, deviating from the practice in most countries, where nuclear plant operators assume all liability [emphasis added].
GE Chief Executive Jeff Immelt has complained in recent months that the leaders of France, Germany and Russia lobby for their nations' corporate interest abroad, suggesting the Obama administration hasn't done as much as it could to stoke sales for US firms abroad.
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