Xi and Modi visited three iconic monuments — Arjuna's Penance, Pancha Rathas and the Shore Temple — at Mamallapuram, a tourist town famous for its stone carvings 60 kilometers south of Chennai. They took in a cultural program at the temple complex.

The two leaders sat on the lawn at the temple and exchanged views on development and cooperation. Modi hosted a private dinner for Xi at the temple complex after their talks.

Vikram Misri, Indian ambassador to China, said the two leaders are using a highly unusual format in holding such an informal summit, the second after a similar summit in Wuhan, Hubei province, last year.

"I don't think either India or China has this kind of mechanism with any other leader in the world for the leaders to meet informally and to speak and discuss without a set agenda," he said.