General Electric Co will not invest in atomic energy in India until accident liability laws are brought in line with global rules.
With the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy still fresh in India’s mind, parliament five years ago passed a law that makes equipment suppliers responsible for an accident, a deviation from international norms that companies found hard to swallow.
In January, Modi and U.S. President Barack Obama unveiled a plan centered on insurance aimed at breaking the stalemate, but India stopped short of softening the liability law.
It appears to have fallen short of the company’s requirements.
“I am not going to put my company at risk for anything — there is no project that is worth it. We have to get common language on this,” Immelt told reporters.
GE also moving jobs because of US Export Import Bank
Immelt also said GE was likely to move more jobs overseas from the United States unless Congress changes the policy on its export credit agency, EXIM bank.
“We think about remaking the EXIM capability using other export credit agencies elsewhere in the world, there are 60 of them elsewhere in the world. So I think it’s more likely that there will be more job moves unless this policy changes,” he said.
Immelt has been campaigning to revive the agency after its authorization expired at the end of June, blocking the bank from writing new loans and trade guarantees.
On Tuesday GE revealed plans to shift up to 500 U.S. manufacturing jobs to Europe and China because it can no longer access EXIM financing.
SOURCE – Reuters
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