Natarajan, a 57-year-old spokeswoman of the ruling Congress party, takes over from Jairam Ramesh, who set new standards in compliance that often brought him into conflict with industry but put environment issues in the spotlight.
Natarajan's arrival could help hundreds of projects held up on green worries, including Tata Steel's $4.4 billion steel mill, ArcelorMittal's iron and manganese ore mine and dozens of power and oil and gas projects.
"We don't think there will be any backsliding in policy because Ramesh has spotlighted it permanently," said a senior government official on condition of anonymity.
"What we can see, though, is some more flexibility because she may have come with a mandate to be sympathetic towards industry given our imperative to grow."
Under Ramesh, India halted more than 60 big-ticket projects and held up more than 450 of them, heightening the risk for investors and underlining India's struggle to grow without damaging its environment - a tussle crucial to shaping the future of its 1.2 billion people. Read the full report here.
Source: by Krittivas Mukherjee, Reuters, New Delhi.
