His meeting with Modi will be the second in the span of a year with an Indian prime minister. He met Manmohan Singh in September last year during the former prime minister's visit to Washington en route to the UN General Assembly summit.
Modi said in interviews before becoming prime minister that individual incidents should not be allowed to cloud bilateral relations - giving an indication of his intent to take forward the ties.
Obama is keen to discuss the stalled talks over the civil nuclear liability laws, which have been a major stumbling block in the execution of the India-US nuclear deal. The US is also keen to increase its defence ties with India, a major market.
