Mr Putin and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh are expected to sign a number of major arms deals.

 

Moscow has long been Delhi's key weapons supplier but has lost several major deals to Western companies in recent years.

 

Trade between Russia and India is currently worth about $10bn (£6bn) a year, but growth has slowed recently.

 

Ahead of the one-day visit, Mr Putin said that he wanted to increase bilateral¹ trade to $20bn by 2015.

 

There was a last-minute change of the venue² of the meeting between Mr Putin and Mr Sigh because of security concerns, following protests in Delhi over a gang rape³ of a female student. 

 

The two leaders will now meet at Mr Singh's residence - not near Delhi's imposing⁴ India Gate, where the protests took place over the weekend.

 

Moscow's concern

 

In an article in India's Hindu newspaper, Mr Putin described as a "historic step" the declaration of strategic partnership⁵ between the two counties signed in 2000. 

 

The Russian leader also said that the military co-operation between the two nations has reached an "unprecedented⁶ level". 

 

Russia's currently accounts for some 70% of India's arms purchases, the BBC's Sanjoy Majumder in Delhi reports. 

 

But India has recently signed a number of big defence contracts with the US and other countries, including France and Israel, our correspondent says. 

 

Russia is concerned, he adds, that its traditional position as India's main arms supplier could be under threat.

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