India will probably need to wait a while longer before it joins the elite club of nations that control trade in advanced nuclear technologies, according to three diplomats with knowledge of the process. The Nuclear Suppliers Group, or NSG, is unlikely to accept India’s application for membership when it meets on June 20 in Seoul because officials in New Delhi haven’t yet met all the criteria for admission, said the diplomats, who represent governments inside the 48-nation group. They asked not to be named in line with diplomatic rules for discussing private deliberations. A delay could roil plans by US President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who were meeting in Washington on Tuesday, to bring the world’s second-most-populous nation into the nuclear mainstream. It would push back a decision on Indian membership to later in the year, and risk bumping into the US presidential election. The NSG was created in response to India’s 1974 atomic-bomb test that challenged the credibility of laws written to prohibit nuclear proliferation. Its network of diplomats, customs and trade officials are supposed to prevent unauthorized transfer of nuclear materials and technologies that could be used in weapons. While the diplomats said they’re not opposed to letting India into the NSG eventually, they said the terms of entry require more negotiating to preserve the credibility of the trade controls. They want tighter monitoring by international nuclear inspectors as well as iron-clad assurances that Indian activities in its civilian nuclear programme won’t be used for military purposes. India, North Korea and Pakistan are the only countries outside the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty that have admitted to possessing nuclear weapons. Israel, which also hasn’t ratified the NPT and is widely believed to possess nuclear arms, doesn’t acknowledge its arsenal. Admitting India before strengthening the NSG eligibility requirements would weaken the rules for other non-recognized nuclear-weapons states to join. India would take a merit-based approach to such applications and would not be influenced by extraneous regional issues. Modi has been lobbying for NSG membership over the last year as part of his effort to deliver reliable power the country’s 1.3 billion people.
