India hails Obama win – but with some reservations

India today officially congratulated US President Barack Obama on his re-election and said it looked forward to deepening multi-faceted engagement between the two countries in the years ahead.

"The government and people of India send their congratulations to President Obama on his winning a second mandate from the people of the US who have expressed their will in the great tradition of democracy in their country," the external affairs ministry said in a statement.

President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh have separately sent messages of congratulations to President Obama on his re-election, said the ministry.

Coincidentally, Obama's re-election comes exactly two years after his visit to India.

Neither Obama nor his rival, Republican candidate Mitt Romney, spelled out their views on India in detail during the 2012 campaign. The topic never came up during their debate on foreign policy.

Nonetheless there were public celebrations by India's increasingly US-oriented upper and middle classes. In New Delhi, blue, white and red - the colours of the United States of America - sparkled on the sun-dappled lawns of the Hotel Imperial, where an eclectic crowd of media persons, students, politicians and diplomats cheered President Barack Obama's re-election over a lavish breakfast spread.