Russia's president and India's prime minister held talks Monday in New Delhi.

The meeting between Vladimir Putin and Manmohan Singh was expected to help Russia tighten defense ties and boost trade with India.

Russia once held a virtual monopoly on on India's arms market, but Moscow has recently lost several multi-billion dollar contracts to Western weapons makers.

The venue of the meeting was changed for security concerns. The meeting was scheduled to be held at Hyderabad House, the usual place for diplomatic talks. Instead, the talks were moved to the prime minister's residence because thousands of protesters have been demonstrating in the Hyderabad neighborhood for speedy action against the men who gang raped a 23-year-old woman last week.