Iraq war booty: India Inc stands divided

One section of India Inc has little hope that its firms will be able to grab any significant share from the spoils of the Iraq war. This sec...

One section of India Inc has little hope that its firms will be able to grab any significant share from the spoils of the Iraq war. This section fears that India’s diplomatic stand has alienated Washington and the Bush administration will wilt under pressure from the Senate to secure the interests of US companies. Indeed, if the Senate has its way, even US allies will be left out from the reconstruction sweepstakes.

Another section of India Inc is more gung-ho. Wiser by the failure of its massive marketing programme to try and corner deals in war-battered Afghanistan, the Confederation of Indian Industry is taking a back seat on Iraq. CII’s newly set-up Kabul office faces competition from a grouping of Afghan-American businessmen, which is setting up offices in Kabul and Kandahar. The Afghan-American Chamber of Commerce (AACC), in collaboration with the US Chamber of Commerce and the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) in Washington has been set up recently. An expert linked with CII’s Kabul venture, said, ‘‘India has alienated the US with its anti-Iraq war stand. This ends our hope of getting contracts in re-construction of Iraq.’’

Such pessimism apart, CII seems to be taking its chances through USAID. ‘‘The US Senate has recently passed a resolution, insisting that all contracts should be awarded to the American companies. In such circumstances, all major contracts are likely to go to the US. The balance works will be awarded to countries like UK, Australia and Spain. Subcontracts will be awarded to other allies who supported the war either directly or indirectly. In such a situation, the only option is to get registered with USAID and approach the companies directly involved in the reconstruction work,’’ a CII aide said.

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CII has sent a list of over 60 companies including Tatas, Godrej, L&T, Ashok Leyland Project Services, Bharat Heavy Electicals Ltd (Bhel), Kirloskar and Hindustan Construction. The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (Ficci), on the other hand, is full of beans. Ficci secretary general Amit Mitra said: ‘‘The Iraq issue is completely different from Afghanistan, hence the approach to tackle the two situations must be different. We have been aggressively pursuing the agencies involved in humanitarian works and reconstruction of Iraq.’’

Mitra too is conscious of the political fall out of India’s stand on Iraq. For this, he has a two-pronged approach. First, he is targetting at the ‘Oil for Food Programme’ (OFP). Next, there is much emphasis on networking for some sub-contract works.

Ficci member and Indo-Iraq Joint Business Council (JBC) co-chairman Anil Agarwal is already in New York to discuss practical issues with UN authorities for OFP. This currently involves interests worth Rs 3,000 crore and if persuaded Indian companies may get additional orders worth Rs 2,000 crore, Mitra said.

Ficci is planning another mission to the US to try and win support of various agencies and companies involved in Iraq’s reconstruction. ‘‘We are positive. Indian companies have long association with Iraq and we are well placed to execute projects,’’ Dr Mitra said, adding that the JBC chairman H.S. Meji is in the Capital to chalk-out a detailed strategy in this regard.

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CII dismissed the possibility of any similar move. ‘‘Where will we take a delegation? USAID is not an agency which will entertain any delegation. Much depends on networking with US companies like Bechtel, with whom we have a long association,’’ CII official said.

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