Hillary in India on Friday

The US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrives in India on Friday night and hours before her departure she gave a glimpse of the Obama administration's vision for India.

Sources in the government have told NDTV that the issue of the recent G8 declaration banning the sale of technology to countries like India will be taken up with Clinton when she visits.

When she first visited India as First Lady, Hillary Clinton charmed the country. Now, on the eve of her departure for Mumbai as Secretary of State, she's all business.

"I don't want to, you know, prejudge, but it is clear that everything is on the table to discuss," said Hillary Clinton, US Secretary of State.

The US sees India as a natural ally in many ways, even naming India as one of the few key partners worldwide who will help shape the 21st century. However, the two countries have some points of disagreement.

"We know that India and China have understandable questions about what role they should be expected to play in any kind of new global climate change regime," Clinton added.

President Obama's call for a world without nuclear weapons clashes with India's requirements of a minimum deterrent.

"Obviously, there are a number of areas where we would welcome Indian leadership and involvement that are difficult. There's nothing easy about non-proliferation," Clinton further said.

And while Clinton is expected to listen attentively to New Delhi's concerns about terrorism emanating from Pakistan, she is also expected to urge a resumption of talks with Islamabad.

"I think we will encourage both publicly and privately that the two sides talk, but what they do and how they do it is up to them," said Prof Walter Anderson, Associate Director of the South Asia Studies Program, SAIS.

In 1995, Hillary Clinton visited India as First Lady along with Chelsea who was 14 years old. Today she returns as America's top diplomat with a mandate to expand US India relations.

It's a job not without its challenges, but this high level visit in the first six months of the Obama presidency signals the administrations eagerness to engage the complicated issues that's shared by the world's oldest and largest democracies.