NEW DELHI: The United States and India said yesterday they had agreed on a defence pact that takes a major step towards allowing the sale of sophisticated US arms to the South Asian nation as it modernizes its military.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, at the end of her first visit to India as Washington's top diplomat, said Delhi had also approved two sites for US companies to build nuclear power plants.

The two agreements gave Clinton tangible accomplishments from a trip designed to deepen ties and demonstrate US President Barack Obama's commitment to India's emergence as a player on the global stage.