The Ministry of Agriculture has told the US department of agriculture that India will not dilute the quality standards that would make it easier for the US to export wheat to the country.

The US, which has always claimed that India's wheat import norms are too stringent, had last month asked the Indian government to relax these norms.

The US Administration says relaxation of the norms would help American companies that can export wheat to India to do so.

The US, one of the world's largest wheat exporters, has been lobbying for a change in the norms since 2006. One of the requirements for wheat to be imported into India is fumigation with methyl bromide, a chemical that is not used in most developed countries.

The Indian government believes this chemical is required to kill certain pests found in the US that thrive in the tropical climate of the subcontinent.

The US has also been seeking a relaxation in norms applied internationally to ascertain pesticide content in wheat. The US Administration has pointed out that the Codex norms, which are the internationally recognized norms should be relaxed for its imports as its internal standards are lower than these.

The Codex standard is an international food standard accepted by 146 countries, but is not legally binding.

In 2006, the Indian government imported 5.5mt million tones wheat from abroad; private companies imported 8,00,000 tonnes. This was the country's first import of the grain in six years. Most imports came from Australia

But the US wheat could not be imported to India last year despite marked dilution of quality standards for imported wheat. Even companies such as Cargill preferred to source their wheat from Ukraine and other places instead of the US, mainly because of the quality standards and fumigation problems.