Big money

Big money

Worldwide the environmental services market is growing, and if India wants a share in the pie it needs quality technology. The environmental services market is now worth US $280 billion and is expected to grow to US $640 billion by 2010, with an annual growth rate of eight per cent. This will place the environmental services industry at roughly the same size as the pharmaceuticals or information technology industries. The market is presently in the industrialised world, but the demand in developing countries is expected to shoot up soon.

The environmental consulting market in India is growing at 15 per cent per annum and is expected to touch US $13 billion to $14 billion by 2005, says a 2003 report, Potential and Opportunities: Indian Environment Market, prepared for the Union ministry of environment and forests.

Under the World Trade Organization, negotiations on environmental goods and services are on. If water and wastewater treatment technologies are classified as 'environmental goods', then they could get preferential treatment on duties. Industrialised countries, whose companies have the best technology and are comfortable with strict standards, are eyeing this market. Indian companies need to invent indigenous solutions. Watching what the world does can't be a policy.

With inputs by Vikas Parashar 12jav.net12jav.net