India is being backed by the United States for grabbing membership in the Nuclear Suppliers Group according to the statements of an anonymous Trump administrative official.

Although China has been opposing India's entry into the NSG primarily on the grounds that New Delhi is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty the US is considering ways it can to support more actively India's membership, because it is something that's very important to the United States, the White House official said. (indiatoday.intoday.in)

China's opposition has made India's entry into the 48-member group difficult as the Nuclear Suppliers Group works on the principle of consensus.

A plenary meeting of the elite nuclear club in June failed to take a decision on India's application for its membership, but decided to discuss in November the issue of entry of non-NPT signatories. (deccanchronicle.com)

An NSG statement after the June meeting had said that the members had discussions on the issue of "Technical, Legal and Political Aspects of the Participation of non-NPT States in the NSG". "The group decided to continue its discussion and noted the intention of the chair to organise an informal meeting in November," said the NSG statement issued at the end of the two-day plenary meeting in the Swiss capital Bern. (deccanchronicle.com)

India and the other NSG members

India has support from various nations in the NSG which include France, United Kingdom, Switzerland, Canada, Japan, Russia, Mexico, South Africa, Argentina, Brazil, Poland, Cyprus, Turkey and Australia along with the US.

However nations like New Zealand, Ireland and Austria along with China are among the nations opposing India's inclusion in the NSG.

Interestingly, after India's application for entry into the elite group which controls the nuclear trade, Pakistan, the all-weather ally of China, too applied with the tacit backing of Beijing. (indiatoday.intoday.in)

Pakistan has also been backed by Turkey.