The government called the nuclear trade waiver a "momentous" milestone in its quest to achieve energy security and meet the challenge of global warming.

The statement came after the United States won approval in Vienna on Saturday for the one-off waiver for India by the Nuclear Suppliers Group, which controls the export and sale of nuclear technology.

The waiver -- a vital step in securing a controversial 2005 India-US civilian technology nuclear accord -- marked the end of India's "decades-long isolation from the nuclear mainstream," Premier Manmohan Singh said.

"The opening of full civil nuclear cooperation between India and the international community will be good for India and for the world," he said.

"It will give an impetus to India's pursuit of environmentally sustainable economic growth."

For global nuclear energy companies, the decision opens the door to an atomic reactor market worth billions of dollars, with India aiming to boost its share of nuclear power to five to seven percent by 2030.

The Confederation of Indian Industry forecast business opportunities worth around 30 billion dollars over the next 15 years and said India would need about 18 to 20 more nuclear reactors. It now has 22 reactors.

"The development is a major confidence-building move for the international community to engage with India especially in high technology trade," said the group's director general Chandrajit Banerjee.

A host of nuclear companies from French state-controlled Areva, Russia's Rosatom Corp to General Electric of the United States have been jockeying for a slice of India's lucrative atomic market.

India, where many areas endure power blackouts, has been denied access to civilian nuclear technology since it tested a nuclear weapon in 1974 and refused to sign the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty.

The Nuclear Suppliers Group was founded to stop other countries emulating India's example in using imported technology to make an atomic bomb.

The oil-import dependent nation is seeking to broaden its fuel sources to sustain its fast-growing economy.

"This decision enables India to look at nuclear energy in a far more focused manner," strategic analyst Uday Bhaskar told AFP.

The world's biggest carbon dioxide emitter for decades has been the United States. But emissions have also rapidly grown in the developing world -- and India is now among the top five emitters.

"India and China are the swing states on global warming and encouraging them to look at clean nuclear energy can only have a positive impact for global warming," Bhaskar said.

The landmark deal has stirred huge controversy in India.

Both the main opposition Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party and the communists slammed the deal, saying it would curb India's military options and bring the country's foreign policy too much under US influence.

"India has walked into the non-proliferation trap set by the US," senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha said.

But Indian newspapers broadly welcomed the deal, and hailed Singh for his dogged negotiating skills.

"India enters elite nuclear club after high-voltage diplomacy," declared the Sunday Times, while The Hindu described Saturday's announcement as "replete with historic and political significance."

The agreement was one of the key foreign policy initiatives of US President George W. Bush as well as of Singh, whose Congress party faces general elections by May 2009.

Washington was anxious to get the deal through so the US Congress could ratify it before adjourning at the end of September for the November presidential elections.

India's ruling Congress hails nuclear waiver
India's ruling Congress party hailed as "historic" a decision by nuclear supplier nations on Saturday to adopt a US initiative to lift a 34-year-old embargo on nuclear trade with New Delhi.

The Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), meeting in Vienna, agreed earlier Saturday to end the embargo on nuclear trade with India after Washington sought a waiver so it could share civilian nuclear technology with New Delhi.

"It's a historic day for the country," Digvijay Singh, a senior Congress leader, told India's NDTV television channel.

"The world has accepted the credibility of this country, that we are serious as far as nuclear non-proliferation," he said, adding the pact would go a "long way towards bridging the gap between energy supply and demand in this country."

The landmark nuclear cooperation deal -- first agreed between Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and US President George W. Bush in 2005 -- has stirred huge controversy in India.

Both the main opposition Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party and the communists, who withdrew their support from the Congress-led government over the agreement, have said the pact would bring India's foreign policy too much under US influence and limit its military strategic options.

The BJP slammed the agreement.

"India has walked into the non-proliferation trap set by the US, we have given up our right to test nuclera weapons forever, it has been surrendered by the government," senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha told reporters.

Singh, who in July won a tightly fought confidence vote in parliament that was seen as a mandate to proceed with the pact, has repeatedly defended it as vital for energy security and to end India's nuclear pariah status.

Washington was keen to get the deal through so the US Congress could ratify it before adjourning at the end of September for the November presidential elections.

The agreement is one of the key foreign policy initiatives of Bush as well as of Singh, whose Congress party faces general elections by May 2009.

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