AUSTRALIA is under pressure to drop its ban on uranium exports to India following the lifting of an international moratorium on the sale of nuclear fuel to Delhi.

Indian officials say they will push Foreign Minister Stephen Smith for a change in the Government's stance when he visits the Indian capital this week.

The Rudd Government has said it will not export uranium to India because Delhi is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

India was granted a waiver by the 45-member Nuclear Suppliers Group on Saturday that allows it to participate in global nuclear commerce, even though it is not a signatory to the treaty.

Australia, which is a member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group, supported the waiver for India.

Senior Indian officials told the Times of India that Australia's support for the waiver was inconsistent with a ban on uranium sales and that this would be taken up with Mr Smith.

"Australia's stand does not make sense now, as the waiver which (Australia) helped us acquire doesn't deny us the right to buy uranium from other countries," the Times reported the official as saying. "In any case, now that we have the waiver, we are not desperate. It would be as big a loss for them because we can import from countries like Canada and South Africa."

The waiver was a crucial step in the implementation of a landmark agreement between India and the US that will give the Asian giant access to nuclear technology and fuel.

The Howard government had said it would sell uranium to India if the US-India agreement came into effect, but the Rudd Government overturned that when it won office.

Before leaving for India yesterday, Mr Smith said the Government's ban on selling uranium to countries that had not signed the non-proliferation treaty would not change.

The "puritanical" position taken by Labor had "evoked considerable anger in New Delhi", the Times said.

Brahma Chellaney, professor of strategic studies at the Centre for Policy Research, said Australia now needed "better reasoning" for banning uranium sales to India, especially when it already exports uranium to China.

"If Australia's objective is for its uranium exports to be only used for peaceful purposes, then India is a much better option than China," he said.

Rory Medcalf, an international security analyst from the Lowy Institute for International Policy, said Australia's support for the waiver would temper criticism of Australia's uranium export ban while Mr Smith visits India.

Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Andrew Robb said it made no sense for Australia to sell uranium to China and Russia but not India.