The remarks came after US Defence Secretary Robert Gates on Wednesday said that "the clock is ticking in terms of how much time is available to get all the different aspects of an agreement implemented" in a reference to US elections due in November 2008.

Indian Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon said India would follow its own timeframe to implement the deal, which has been stalled by the national government's communist allies.

"We are not looking at a deadline. We know the timetable, we know what to do," Menon told reporters after talks in New Delhi with US Under Secretary of Commerce Mario Mancuso on boosting bilateral high-technology trade.

He said India hoped to conclude its ongoing negotiations with the International Atomic Energy Agency, or IAEA, on various aspects of the agreement.

"The government is trying and hoping to wrap up the agreement with the IAEA as soon as possible (but) these are negotiations.... They take two hands to clap," the Indian diplomat said.

The pact still needs approval from the IAEA to place India's civilian nuclear reactors under UN safeguards as well as from the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group, which regulates global civilian nuclear trade.

Mancuso later told reporters that Washington believed it was in "India's interest" to conclude the nuclear agreement.

He said Indian approval of the pact would "underscore the level of trust and depth in the relationship" but denied that Washington was exerting undue pressure, saying it was content to "let the process work its way out."

Last week US senator Joseph Biden, chairman of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, also warned India the agreement had to come before the Senate for approval no later than July.

The White House said Tuesday there was a "bit more time" in the US political calendar before President George W. Bush leaves office, but Gates warned in New Delhi that it depended on when the Senate went on recess for the US elections.

The agreement, which would give New Delhi crucial access to civilian atomic technology, requires final approval by the US Congress, where it currently enjoys bipartisan support.

India tested nuclear weapons in 1974 and 1998 and, as a result, is banned from buying fuel for atomic reactors and related equipment.

India, which says the deal is vital to keep its energy-hungry economy growing, has agreed to open 14 of its 22 reactors to international inspections in return for technology and atomic plants.

But the communists oppose the deal, saying it threatens India's nuclear weapons programme and allies the country too closely with the US.

The deal, first agreed to by Bush and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in 2005, is regarded by the governments of the two nations as a cornerstone of new, warmer Indo-US ties.

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