India eyes dilution of tough US nuclear deal terms

The US House of Represent-atives and Senate are expected to meet in a conference this week to reconcile separate bills they have approved to allow nuclear trade between the two countries for the first time in over three decades.

The two versions, however, have several amendments -- introduced mostly by opponents of the controversial deal -- which India has said are unacceptable and were not part of the original agreement reached by the two governments.

New Delhi's concerns were taken up last week by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who wrote to heads of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House International Relations Committee, a senior Indian official told Reuters.

"Her letter reflects our worries," said the official, close to the negotiations over the deal. "She has expressed those concerns because we have raised them in the first place."