Sanctions will not affect technology transfer 8212; ABC

NEW DELHI, July 27: Technology transfers from American companies to India will not be affected by curbs placed on exports of quot;dual usequot; items by United States after the Pokhran tests, the apex body of US Companies said today.quot;I don8217;t think technology transfers will be affected due to sanctions,quot; Jim Reinsch, chairman of the American Business Council ABC told newsmen here.

However, if individual firms face any such problems, ABC is quot;more than willing to articulate their positionsquot;, he said and expressed the hope that firms will not face any difficulty in technology-related areas in future also.Asked about quot;suspensionquot; of an Indian scientist by the US Energy department and expulsion of few others by the US government, Reinsch, said, quot;Our council does not have an official position on this issue.quot; quot;Costs of implementing projects in India have definitely gone up due to sanctions,quot; he said, adding quot;for good viable projects money will continue to flow.

quot;Future investment flows into India is also not likely tobe affected by difficulty faced by foreign companies in arranging cheap funds, Reinsch said. Reinsch said India had an opportunity to step forward, with economic crisis haunting countries in the Asia Pacific region, but the quot;union budget was not as bullish or bold as we had hoped forquot;.

The American Business Council welcomes any move by the government that will improve investment and business climate, he said.Given an appropriate business climate and consistent policies, it is possible to attract larger FDI into India, Reincsh added.

Pramod Bhasin of GE Capital, who heads the financial services committee of ABC, called for faster reforms in the capital market and fine tuning of the legal processes to ease the flow of credit.