While fewer countries countered India at the briefing that Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon made to NSG countries before the plenary went in for its closed-door meeting in Vienna this afternoon, sources said, there was pressure building up to “tighten” the draft a bit more.

In this context, Washington has still kept open the possibility of another meeting in early September.

Despite reservations, almost all NSG members spoke in favour of India being given an exemption but some of them felt that the draft circulated by the US fell short on certain counts. Key among them was a need to make it clear that cooperation would end in case India conducted a nuclear test in the future and a reference to CTBT.

This point, sources said, was flagged off even before the meeting by New Zealand which felt that US should include conditions on testing given that the same is also mentioned in the Hyde Act. In fact, New Zealand and to some extent, Ireland, felt that the conditions in the Hyde Act should act as a template of sorts for the NSG as well.

These two countries along with Austria and Norway continued to repeat the line that the exemption would “damage” the NPT and demanded strong conditions, knowing well that India had very limited flexibility in terms of accepting more changes to the existing draft. However, sources pointed out that there was no indication of any united diplomatic effort to challenge the exemption.

While these countries were somewhat “extreme” in their scepticism, there are countries like Canada which were keen on pushing for a review or monitoring mechanism for India. On this count, sources said, suggestions were mooted to have a closer inspection regime.

Though “milder” in their scepticism as they do not want to annoy India, countries like Canada, Japan and even Australia seemed to indicate that they would be more comfortable with a tighter exemption note. For instance, some of them were keen to also place a prohibition on enrichment and reprocessing technology.

On this issue, sources said, the concerns were largely commercial as some of them felt that Russia and France could use E&R technologies to “sweeten” their commercial prospects with India while others may not be able to do so for domestic compulsions.

At the start of the day, India briefed all NSG members at the IAEA building with Menon making a strong case for an exemption on the basis of India’s unblemished non-proliferation record. He gave elaborate explanations on India’s future energy requirements and the steps it had taken to ensure there would be no proliferation threat. Also, the Indian side underlined the positive effect such a deal would have on climate change.

Sources said that barring a couple, not many member-states raised questions. After lunch, the NSG members moved to the Japanese embassy in Vienna where there is a conference room for NSG meetings. The closed door session discussed these issues in details and reservations were heard from several countries. Later, sources said, Indian and US diplomats discussed the developments of the day.

India also remained in close touch with France and Russia for creating diplomatic pressure on countries raising the red flags. However, the discussions were still underway and it was not certain whether another meeting would be needed in September. US, for its part, has conveyed that India should be prepared for another round early next month.

For Washington, it is important that process is concluded by September 3 so that it can work on the presidential determination which can be presented before the US Congress when it meets on September 8.

The extreme sceptics

• New Zealand and Ireland: Hyde Act should be the template. US should include conditions on testing given that the same is also mentioned in the Hyde Act.

• Austria and Norway joined New Zealand and Ireland to argue that exemption would “damage” the NPT and demanded strong conditions

The mild sceptics

• Canada pushing for a review or monitoring mechanism for India, closer inspection regime.

• Canada, Japan and even Australia indicated they wanted tighter exemption note, prohibition on enrichment and reprocessing technology.