The United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said?in Chennai?Wednesday that her country is "betting on India's future" to build a strong relationship between the two countries.

"We are betting on India's future ... that the opening of India's markets to world will produce a more prosperous India and South Asia. We are betting that India's vibrant pluralistic society will inspire others to follow a similar path of tolerance," Clinton said while delivering a speech at the Anna Centenary Library in Chennai.

"We are making this bet not out of blind faith but because we have watched your progress with great admiration," she said. "I find there are those who raise questions about the relationship between the two countries. We two are different nations. But the common interest is stepping up the economic relationship."

Clinton also said that the U.S. stands whole-heartedly behind President Barack Obama's statement to the Indian Parliament during his visit last November that his country's relationship with India will be one of the defining relationships of the 21st century.

Clinton, who is on the second and last leg of her 3-day visit to India, later met with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa.