India to join key missile control group

The members of the Missile Technology Control Regime, a key anti-proliferation grouping, have agreed to admit India, diplomats said, in a win for Prime Minister Narendra Modi as he meets President Barack Obama in Washington yesterday.

Diplomats with direct knowledge of the matter said a deadline for the members of the 34-nation group to object to India's admission had expired on Monday without any of them raising objections.

Admission to the MTCR would open the way for India to buy high-end missile technology, also making more realistic its aspiration to buy state-of-the-art surveillance drones such as the US Predator.