India will ratify the Paris climate change agreement on October 2, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday in an announcement that will give momentum to implementation of measures at the international level to control global warming.

Speaking at the two-day conclave in Kerala's Kozhikode, PM Modi said, "On October 2, India will ratify the COP21 resolutions on climate because Gandhiji's life had the smallest carbon footprint." Even last year after the meet, Indian officials had indicated that India might not be able to stick to the COP21 timeline for emission reduction.  At the time, Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar had indicated the process would take time.

"There are huge issues. It will impact on our electricity regulation, Motor Vehicles Act, power plants and airlines," he had said, referring to their cascading effects. So far, 60 countries including the world's top two polluters - China and USA - have ratified the Agreement which was adopted by 195 countries in Paris last December. While China and USA had ratified it on September 3, as many as 31 countries had formally joined the Agreement through formal ratification or acceptance at a special event, hosted by the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in New York, on September 21.