Yingluck Shinawatra, who flew to New Delhi on Monday, is making her first official visit to the country to promote trade, which the Asian partners hope to double to $14 billion by 2014 from its 2010 level.[break]
Shinawatra, who became Thailand´s first female prime minister in August, was seated with Pratibha Patil, India´s first woman president, as marching bands and military hardware filed past.
India was also set to put on display for the first time its Agni-IV missile which can launch a one-tonne nuclear warhead.
Agni-IV, last tested in November 2011 is part of an Indian programme to build an array of weapons including nuclear-tipped inter-continental ballistic missiles.
The national ceremony will later culminate in flypasts by US-built C-130J Super Hercules planes, Russian-supplied Sukhoi-30s and MiG-29 fighter jets.
India is spending tens of billions of dollars to modernise its military, the world´s fourth largest.
Some 25,000 policemen, commandos and soldiers guarded the city against possible attacks from militant groups while its skies were a no-fly zone for the duration of the celebrations, officials said.
Last September, 12 people died and nearly 80 others were wounded when a powerful bomb went off at the fortified Delhi High Court in the heart of the Indian capital.
Combat troops were also out in strength on the streets of Indian-administered Kashmir to try to thwart anti-government protests by separatist groups who usually use the occasion to denounce rule by New Delhi.
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