U.S. and Indian negotiators said last Friday they had made significant progress on the agreement after four days of intensive negotiations in Washington and sent the document for a final review by the respective governments.
Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee said after a government meeting that the agreement, which essentially puts an end to New Delhi's decade-long international isolation in the nuclear sphere, "takes into account all India's concerns."
The Cabinet now has to discuss the document details with left-wing and opposition parties before submitting it for parliament's approval.
Last year, U.S. Congress approved the Hyde Act, which allows the U.S. to supply civilian nuclear fuel to India, but talks to coordinate technical details on an overall cooperation plan have been dragging on for months without a breakthrough.
The two sides provided no details on the latest deal, but some media reports suggested that the U.S. promised uninterrupted supplies of fuel to 14 civilian nuclear plants in India, and accepted New Delhi's initiative to build a special storage for spent nuclear fuel in the country.
In exchange, India will allow experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN nuclear watchdog, to inspect its civilian nuclear facilities, although its military reactors would reportedly remain off-limits.
The U.S. has been previously reluctant to allow India, which is not officially recognized as a nuclear power and has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, to reprocess spent fuel using U.S. components, over concerns of its possible use for military purposes.
New Delhi conducted its first nuclear weapons test in 1998.
The deal, if it goes through, would give India access to U.S. nuclear fuel and reactors, but the two countries still have to obtain approval from the Nuclear Suppliers Group, a conglomerate of countries that export nuclear material.
India also must reach a non-proliferation safeguard agreement with the IAEA.
