Rain failed to dampen excitement around USPresident Barack Obama's landmark visit to India as thousands of spectators turned out today to watch the country's Republic Day parade at which Obama was chief guest.

Obama is the first US President to be guest of honour at India's annual Republic Day parade, a flamboyant display of the South Asian nation's military might and cultural diversity in the heart of the capital, New Delhi.

The two-hour parade features troops, rows of tanks, missiles and formations of horses and camels manoeuvring down the wide Rajpath (King's Way) boulevard.

Obama sat near President Pranab Mukherjee as he saluted soldiers at a military parade in the capital New Delhi.

His presence at the parade - at Modi's personal invitation - marks the latest upturn in a roller-coaster bilateral relationship that just a year ago was in tatters.

Bickering over protectionism culminated in a fiery diplomatic spat in 2013 and the abrupt departure of the US ambassador from New Delhi, who has only just been replaced.

The United States views India as a vast market and potential counterweight in Asia to a more assertive China, but has frequently been frustrated with the slow pace of New Delhi's economic reforms and unwillingness to side with Washington in international affairs.

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