Vienna/New Delhi - India is set to sign its nuclear inspection agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Monday, bringing the country a step closer to enlarging its nuclear power sector, a diplomat said Thursday in Vienna.

Nuclear exporting countries decided last September to supply India, even though the country has not signed the Nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty, on the condition that its civilian nuclear facilities come under IAEA controls.

However, the so-called safeguards agreement with the IAEA will not immediately come into force, as it still has to be ratified by India, said the diplomat, who is close to the IAEA.

Like all officials interviewed for this article, he spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to talk to the press on the record.

The agreement will give IAEA inspectors the right to monitor up to 14 Indian reactors by the year 2014. The nuclear-weapons state agreed under its nuclear 2006 deal with the US to separate its military and civilian nuclear facilities.

The ratification of the safeguards pact was a mere "mechanical" step that needed no further decision by India's parliament or president, an official at the Department of Atomic Energy in Mumbai said.

However, the process of deciding which Indian facilities to place under IAEA safeguards might prove to be politically difficult, a Vienna-based Western diplomat said.

India has signed civil nuclear cooperation agreements with the US, France and Russia since the exporting countries of the Nuclear Suppliers Group lifted its export ban last September. It also signed a pact with Kazakhstan for supply of uranium fuel for its atomic plants last week.

In addition, India and Canada are close to concluding a nuclear cooperation agreement, according to India's PTI news agency.

However, these deals are unlikely to come into force before the IAEA starts its inspection process.

"There might be a lot of agreements, but but they can only be carried out once the conditions set by the Nuclear Suppliers Group are met," a European diplomat said. dpa