When Manmohan Singh, India's prime minister, last visited Washington, in 2005, he was presented with a historic gift by then President George W. Bush: the US-India civilian nuclear agreement that ended New Delhi's decades-old “nuclear pariah” status and was seen as being implicitly aimed at containing a rising China.

Barack Obama has already struck a warm personal rapport with Mr Singh on the sidelines of two G20 summits this year. But as Mr Singh begins a state visit to Washington today, there is concern in New Delhi that India has moved down the US's list of priorities, anxieties re- inforced by Mr Obama's emollient overtures to China during his eight-day east-Asian tour last week.

“I don't think the US has made up its mind as to where it sees India in its geopolitical view,” said Arundhati Ghose, India's former ambassador to the United Nations.