"This is a historic victory for the people of India. Once again the joint efforts of the United States and India have shown to be successful," Ashok Mago, Chairman of the Dallas based US-INDIA forum, said.

"We cannot ignore the importance of growing trade between India and many NSG members," Mago said and added, "India’s economic relations along with the diplomatic skills of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh have played a vital role in this approval."

The forum said that the final hurdle to cross would be the approval from US Congress and hoped that Prime Ministers upcoming visit to New York and Washington will coincide with such an approval.

"We are hoping that Prime Ministers visit to New York and Washington will coincide with the approval by US Congress," Mago said.

It is expected that President George W Bush, who has been very actively involved in the civilian nuclear deal with India, will be sending over the package to Congress early next week when law-makers re-assemble for what is generally considered to be the last session for this 110th Congress.