India says nuclear suppliers' approval "momentous"

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India hailed as "momentous" a global atomic cartel's decision on Saturday to lift a 34-year-old ban on nuclear trade with New Delhi, a crucial step to sealing a controversial U.S.-India civilian nuclear accord.

"This is a forward-looking and momentous decision," Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who spoke to U.S. President George W. Bush after the decision, said in a statement.

"It marks the end of India's decades-long isolation from the nuclear mainstream and of the technology denial regime."

The 45-member Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), meeting in Vienna, adopted a one-off waiver proposed by the United States, allowing atomic business with India even though it has not signed the non-proliferation treaty and has tested nuclear devices.

This followed tough negotiations in which several small NSG states agreed under heavy U.S. pressure to weaker language than they had sought to ensure India does not test atom bombs again.

"I thank the United States and other member countries of the Nuclear Suppliers Group for the role they have played in ensuring this outcome," Singh said. "The opening of full civil nuclear cooperation between India and the international community will be good for India and for the world."

The U.S.-India deal still has one hurdle to clear. The U.S. Congress must ratify it before adjourning later this month for elections, or it will be left to an uncertain fate under a new U.S. administration.

The fuel and technology deal would help India meet exploding energy demand in an environmentally sound way and open a nuclear market worth billions of dollars.

A top Indian industry lobby welcomed the approval as "a resounding victory" for India.

"It would enable India chase its dream of putting up a series of nuclear power plants, said Sajjan Jindal, head of the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India.

Singh said the NSG approval recognized India's impeccable non-proliferation record and its status as a state with advanced nuclear technology.

"We look forward to establishing a mutually beneficial partnership with friendly countries in an area which is important both for global energy security and to meet the challenge of climate change."

NSG critics and disarmament campaigners fear Indian access to nuclear material markets will let it tap into more of its limited indigenous resources, such as uranium fuel, to boost its nuclear arsenal, and spark an arms race in the region.

The deal has also been criticized by Indian opposition parties as compromising the country's sovereignty and its right to carry out more nuclear tests.

But a beaming foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee told reporters that the NSG waiver was a "unique development" that was in India's interests.

"The final outcome fully meets our expectation and is consistent with government policy and the national consensus on disarmament and nonproliferation," he said.

(Additional reporting by C. Jacob Kuncheria; editing by Robert Hart)