<P> News of the tests were greeted with jubilation and large - scale approval by society in India . The Bombay Stock Exchange registered significant gains . Newspapers and television channels praised the government for its bold decision; editorials were full of praise for the country's leadership and advocated the development of an operational nuclear arsenal for the country's armed forces . The Indian opposition, led by Congress Party criticised the Vajpayee administration for carrying out the series of nuclear tests . The Congress Party spokesman, Salman Khursheed, accused the BJP of trying to use the tests for political ends rather than to enhance the country's national security . </P> <P> By the time India had conducted tests, the country had a total of $44 bn in loans in 1998, from IMF and the World Bank . The industrial sectors of the Indian economy such as the chemicals industry, were likely to be hurt by sanctions . The Western consortium companies, which had invested heavily in India, especially in construction, computing and telecoms, were generally the ones who were harmed by the sanctions . In 1998, Indian government announced that it had already allowed for some economic response and was willing to take the consequences . </P> <P> The United States issued a strong statement condemning India and promised that sanctions would follow . The American intelligence community was embarrassed as there had been "a serious intelligence failure of the decade" in detecting the preparations for the test . </P> <P> In keeping with its preferred approach to foreign policy in recent decades, and in compliance with the 1994 anti-proliferation law, the United States imposed economic sanctions on India . The sanctions on India consisted of cutting off all assistance to India except humanitarian aid, banning the export of certain defence material and technologies, ending American credit and credit guarantees to India, and requiring the US to oppose lending by international financial institutions to India . </P>

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