Page 1 of 2

Christine St Anne is Morningstar's online funds and ETFs editor.

As US president Barack Obama and Australian prime minister Julia Gillard giggled their way through the week-long Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, a number of initiatives were announced.

Greater trade liberalisation and plans to support more green initiatives were announced as part of the APEC agenda.

But chief among those announcements was the Australian government's plan to open up uranium sales to India.

The decision marked a change in Labor government policy. Under the Rudd government, Australia had banned the sale of uranium to India, as India was not a signatory to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.

"If we can export uranium to China and Russia, we can export uranium to the largest democracy in the world where there is no evidence whatsoever of proliferation of nuclear materials," Australian Defence Minister Stephen Smith said at the time.

Many in the industry hope this policy reversal will enhance Australia's mining boom.

While China is seen as a large global consumer, India is now the fourth-largest energy consumer.

Also, Europe's woes could eventually push India up into the fifth spot in the GDP ranks.

"Its energy needs will naturally continue to grow and uranium is already a core energy feedstock," Morningstar head of equities strategy Ross Bird says.

Indian state-owned Nuclear Power Corp's finance director said India's uranium needs will increase tenfold by 2020, to about 8000 tonnes of uranium annually.

"Uranium currently accounts for about 1 per cent of India's energy needs and about 3 per cent of its electricity generation, and is seen as increasing its market share over time within an ever-growing cake," Bird says.

"Therefore, a change to current Labor party policy would likely have a big impact on our uranium sector by diversifying our customer base and underpinning ongoing demand and supply."

Bird says if Labor amends its current legislation, then the timing of uranium sales to India may broadly coincide with BHP Billiton's (BHP) expansion plans for the Olympic Dam, in addition to other developments that are being considered.

The Olympic Dam mine in South Australia has been operating since 1988 and is the world's largest known uranium resource.

However, it is not only the big resources conglomerates that will benefit from the lifting of the uranium export ban to India.