A US push to lift a global ban on nuclear trade with India stalled on Saturday when a revised proposal failed to win over nations because it did not bind India to refrain from more nuclear bomb tests, diplomats said.

"No decision is possible at this time. The meeting is to resume at 11 A.M (0900 GMT) today," one diplomat said.

At stake is the survival of a controversial 2005 US-India nuclear cooperation deal, a major initiative of President George W. Bush's administration which risks an uncertain fate if left to his successor, who will take office in January.

To launch the deal, Washington and New Delhi need a one-off waiver of Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) rules against exports to India, an atomic weapons state outside the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) which tested bombs in 1974 and 1998.

If Washington cannot secure an NSG exemption within days, the US Congress may run out of time to ratify the deal before it adjourns at the end of September for November elections.

Feverish US efforts to clinch consensus at a two-day NSG meeting on the waiver dragged proceedings well into Friday night but finally stumbled on the testing issue, forcing adjournment in Saturday's early hours.

Many members of the nuclear cartel, which seeks to prevent the spread of proliferation-prone nuclear fuel and technology, welcomed an Indian pledge rejecting any nuclear arms race and reaffirming a voluntary moratorium on tests.

John Rood, acting U.S. undersecretary of state for arms control and international security, said India's gesture had added "positive momentum" to efforts to agree an NSG waiver.

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