India may take membership in CERN council

KOLKATA: India has expressed its interest to join the European Centre for Nuclear Research (CERN) which is currently carrying out the world's largest scientific experiment to replicate conditions preceding the Big Bang that formed the universe.

"India has expressed to take associate membership of CERN," Rudiger Voss, an official of the organisation, said today on the sidelines of a function here.

The associate membership will cost $9.68 million for India but it will open gates for Indian hi-tech companies.

CERN was also keen to have India as its member after it provided inputs in the Large Hadron Collider project, that seeks to provide more information on the Big Bang theory.