Critics accused India 's environment minister on Friday of selling out to wealthy nations at climate change talks in Mexico by saying New Delhi might accept binding emission cut targets.

Ramesh on Thursday offered an olive branch to try to break the logjam in the U.N. climate negotiations in Cancun , Mexico , saying for the first time India could consider entering a legally binding emissions reduction agreement.

India, the world's third-largest greenhouse gas emitter, has until now held the burden of cuts should be on developed countries and that it can't commit to binding targets because they might hurt its ability to lift hundreds of millions of its population out of poverty.

However, as diplomacy intensified with the talks entering their final lap, Ramesh said: "All countries must take binding commitments under an appropriate legal form."

He said India would wait to see the shape of a future agreement before signing up "because we don't know the content," including whether countries would face penalties for non-compliance.

Ramesh's dramatic shift in climate change policy triggered fierce domestic criticism from opposition parties and some environmentalists.

"Jairam Ramesh will have to explain this overnight change in existing policy. He has clearly exceeded his mandate," Prakash Javdekar, spokesman for the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party, told Indian news channel NDTV.

"This is going to harm the country's interests," he said.

Sunita Narain, head of the Center for Science and Environment in New Delhi , said Ramesh had succumbed to U.S. pressure.

"We have given so much but have got nothing in return," said Narain. "He is selling India for few peanuts."

Brinda Karat, a leader of the Communist Party of India-Marxist, said: "This is a sellout and it's extremely unfortunate that this should have happened."

Negotiators in Cancun , however, said they saw steady progress in setting up the framework for a future climate fund to help poor nations.

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