Minister for Science and Technology Kapil Sibal said the bilateral agreement, also called ‘123 Agreement’, would not make it binding on India to buy nuclear fuel from just the US.

He said that to support India's economic growth and development in the coming decades, the 123 Agreement was necessary. It would help the country in overcoming an energy crisis, since there would be huge gap between demand and supply.

"The 123 Agreement is fuel for India's growth," Sibal told an interactive meeting organised by the Bengal National Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Sibal said the agreement would also give India, unlike other countries like China, the right to reprocess spent fuel needed for augmenting nuclear power generating capacity.