The Hindus are good people and, potentially, our most valuable allies against both Islam and China. They are slowly coming around and economic ties are outpacing political breakthroughs (think outsourcing).
India has strong ties to Britain (their former masters) and therefore Britain is another bridge from USA to India.
What India needs to overcome is its communist past--they allied with the old USSR against USA and Pakistan. This was backwards of what should have been--from today's perspective. Most Indian papers that I read are still hopelessly anti-USA (just like CNN).
Try reading up on Indo-US ties from the period from 1962 to 1965-it may surprise u !!There were joint air exercises,special ops training & covert intell missions into China.It wasn't India's shift to the USSR that ended that brief phase of Indo-U