India's Clout in U.S. Congress Assisted by GE, Boeing, JPMorgan

[deminks]

http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=aSVGFQNTru38

July 17 (Bloomberg) -- For India, which wants the U.S. Congress to approve an accord allowing it to acquire nuclear technology, it helps to have friends in high places.

Top executives at JPMorgan Chase & Co., General Electric Co. and Boeing Co. are among those lobbying lawmakers to approve the agreement -- a demonstration of the rapid emergence of pro-India groups as a political force in Washington.

The effort has already yielded results. Last month, after hearing pleas from the companies, U.S. business groups and Indian-American business executives, House and Senate committees overwhelmingly approved the outlines of the agreement, which would give India access to power-plant technology from companies including Fairfield, Connecticut-based GE.

India, the world's 11th-largest economy and most populous democracy, may one day be second only to Israel among international interests able to influence Washington policy makers, says Robert Hoffman, a lobbyist for Redwood City, California-based Oracle Corp., which has a majority interest in an Indian software-maker.

The nuclear agreement, he says, ``has been a coming-out party of sorts for the India lobby.''