Paris - The French nuclear energy supplier Areva said Thursday it had signed an agreement with the Nuclear Power Corporation of India to provide 300 tons of uranium for its power stations.

The deal was the result of a French-Indian agreement on nuclear power collaboration signed in September.

The French company therefore becomes the first nuclear supplier for India since the re-opening of its nuclear energy market.

India is planning to increase its nuclear power capacity from 3 to 40 gigawatts (GW) by the year 2020, and to boost the share of its total electricity produced by nuclear power from 3 to 20 per cent. (dpa)