PRESIDENT BUSH marked his first visit to India yesterday by sealing a landmark nuclear energy deal.

The agreement between the world’s oldest and largest democracies allows India to buy nuclear technology and fuel from the US to power its fast-growing economy.

It marks a major shift in American policy towards India, which Washington punished with sanctions after it conducted nuclear weapons tests in 1998.

“Things change,” Mr Bush said as he announced the deal with Manmohan Singh, the Prime Minister of India.“It’s in our interests that India have a civilian nuclear industry to help take the pressure off of the global demand for energy.”

Mr Singh declared: “History was made today.

“Our discussions today make me confident that there are no limits to Indo-US partnerships.”

The US Congress has yet to approve the agreement, and there is some opposition to a deal that rewards a country that has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and sends an uncertain message to North Korea and Iran.

But it won the important endorsement yesterday of Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency. He said that it would strengthen the non-proliferation regime, combat nuclear terrorism and enhance safety.

India will list 14 of its 22 nuclear facilities as civilian and open them to international observers. US negotiators agreed to keep India’s experimental fast breeder reactor off the civilian list.

China, India’s northern neighbour, was more cautious, urging India to dismantle its nuclear weapons.

The deal was a high point of Mr Bush’s three-day visit, which is designed partly to woo India as a counterweight to China.

He and the Indian Prime Minister made a very public show of bonhomie on the lawn of Hyderabad House, a relic of the British Raj in Delhi, and later over lunch.

Mr Singh chided Mr Bush for not taking his wife, Laura, to the Taj Mahal, and hoped he would be more “chivalrous” next time. Mr Bush replied: “I’m sorry you brought up the Taj Mahal. I’ve been hearing about it from Laura ever since I told her that we weren’t going.”

But as the two men met, tens of thousands of Indian Muslims and leftwingers protested in cities across India against the President’s visit.

Dozens of politicians, mainly from leftist parties, stood on the steps of the national parliament building chanting “Bush go back” and “Down with Bush”.

One protester, Hannan Mollah, a politician from the Communist Party of India (Marxist), said: “The Indian Government should not get into any deal with the Americans. Bush has laid a trap for India.”

Mr Bush said that it was their “common values” that had brought the countries together after decades of mistrust and frostiness.

He said that both shared a respect for religious pluralism, the rule of law and entrepreneurial spirit. “This partnership of ours is substantive and it’s important and it’s strategic,” he said.

America is India’s largest trading partner, and a team of businessmen from both countries met to discuss how to increase trade.

Sales of aircraft and telecommunications equipment led to a 30 per cent increase in US exports to India last year. Indian sales to America, its biggest customer, rose by 20 per cent.

Among the deals announced was the lifting of a 17-year-old ban on Indian mango exports, hailed by Mr Bush. Raising a laugh, he said: “The United States is looking forward to eating Indian mangoes.”

Earlier in the day the President and the First Lady removed their shoes and laid a wreath and threw petals on Mahatma Gandhi’s memorial, Rajghat. Today they visit Hyderabad, a hub of India’s booming technology industry.

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