NEW DELHI and Canberra have signed a civil nuclear deal, making India the first non-signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty to receive Australian uranium.

Nuclear-armed India has been pushing for a greater international acceptance of its nuclear programme, having already signed deals with NPT signatories France and the US.

“We signed a nuclear co-operation agreement because Australia trusts India to do the right thing in this area, as it has been doing in other areas,” said Australian PM Tony Abbott.

Talks on the agreement began two years ago after Australia, which holds almost a third of the world’s known uranium reserves, lifted a ban on selling the radioactive metal to India.

The two countries also agreed a deal for providing conventional fuels such as coal “based on India’s energy needs.”

A quarter of India’s 1.2 billion people have little or no access to electricity.