UPDATE 4-India, U.S. chip away opposition to nuclear deal

(Updates throughout)

By Mark Heinrich

VIENNA, Sept 5 (Reuters) - Resistance to lifting a global ban on nuclear trade with India diminished at a 45-nation meeting on Friday but it was unclear if a revised U.S. proposal would convince the last doubters.

At stake is the survival of a controversial 2005 U.S.-India nuclear cooperation deal, a major initiative of President George W. Bush's administration which risks an uncertain fate if left to his successor, who will take office in January.

To launch the deal, Washington and New Delhi need a one-off waiver of Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) rules against exports to India, an atomic weapons state outside the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) which tested bombs in 1974 and 1998.

Many NSG members welcomed an Indian pledge rejecting any nuclear arms race and reaffirming a voluntary moratorium on tests. But some felt the commitment was not sufficiently binding on New Delhi.

John Rood, acting U.S. undersecretary of state for arms control and international security, said India's gesture had added "positive momentum" to efforts to agree an NSG waiver.

Six NSG holdouts had been demanding a clause stipulating an automatic cessation of the waiver if India tested another weapon. Diplomats said that later shrank to four after Norway and Netherlands accepted less precise language.

Only Ireland, Austria, New Zealand and Switzerland were sticking to the "automaticity" position on testing, they said.