New Delhi: India on July 27 night ruled out early resumption of dialogue with Pakistan saying necessary conditions for it did not exist at present as US Secretary of State Colin Powell initiated fresh efforts to bring the two countries on the negotiating table but discounted possibility of a breakthrough.

''India has always held that if the necessary conditions for talks are created, we will have talks. But we do not think that necessary conditions exist at present,'' External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha told reporters shortly before entering into talks with Powell.

On his way to Delhi, Powell told reporters accompanying him that, ''I am not expecting a breakthrough yet of the kind we saw a month or so ago. I just want to make sure we are not just stopped and I want to see what both sides might be willing to do to keep going down that escalatory ladder.''

''Ultimately we have to get to dialogue or else we will just be stuck on a plateau which would not serve our interests. We do not want to be back where we were a few months ago, a few months from now,'' he said.

Soon after his arrival, Powell held one-on-one talks with Sinha which was followed with delegation-level talks attended by Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia Christina Rocca and Elizabeth Millard of the National Security Council.

The Indian delegation included India's Ambassador to the US Lalit Mansingh and senior officials.

Powell will leave for Pakistan on July 28 after meetings with Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani and National Security Advisor Brajesh Mishra.

PTI