America Inc bats for N-deal

The new multi-million dollar lobbying bid could help American companies tap more than $100 billion worth of business, writes S Rajagopalan.

Corporate America has hailed the Indo-US nuke deal accord and pledged to step up its efforts to muster support on Capitol Hill for an early Congressional nod to the measure.

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The US Chamber of Commerce and its affiliate, the US India Business Council, have already instituted a multi-million dollar lobbying bid for early passage of a measure which, in its estimation, could help American companies tap more than $100 billion worth of business opportunity in India's energy sector alone.

Within hours of the announcement by President George W Bush and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the Chamber issued a statement lauding the initiative and comparing Bush's India trip to Nixon's China visit in the 1970s in terms of its achievement.

"This agreement is a key step in achieving a deeper strategic partnership with India that will enhance global stability and create tremendous new trading opportunities," Dan Christman, the Chamber's senior vice president for international affairs said.

The Chamber, the world's largest business federation with more than three million businesses, has already instituted a "Coalition for Partnership with India" to marshal a broad public advocacy campaign to see the nuke deal through.

The USIBC, which consists of 160 large American companies with investments in India, recently engaged a top Washington law firm, Patton Boggs, to win support for the deal on the Hill.

The Chamber is making the case that the nuke deal will throw up business opportunities for the US.