India says it's edging closer to a nuclear pact with Japan, which would open up one of the world's fastest expanding power markets to vendors struggling for growth after the Fukushima disaster.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will go over the final steps of a civil nuclear treaty with his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe during a visit to Japan starting Thursday, according to Sekhar Basu, secretary at India's Department of Atomic Energy. If completed, the deal is seen deepening ties between Asia's second- and third-largest economies while China seeks to expand its regional influence through the export of its own domestically-designed reactors.
India's nuclear power market is estimated at $150 billion and the country aims to boost energy generated from atomic plants to a quarter of the total by 2050 from about 3.5 percent now, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. The pact could benefit Japanese nuclear-component makers including Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. and Hitachi Ltd. that face shrinking business prospects after the 2011 Fukushima disaster led to the shutdown of the country's reactor fleet for safety checks.