U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday invited Narendra Modi for a visit, a man tipped to be India's next prime minister but was once denied a U.S. visa.

In a phone conversation with Modi, whose Bharatiya Janata Party won India's just-concluded general elections by a landslide, Obama invited him to visit Washington "at a mutually agreeable time" to further strengthen bilateral relationship, the White House said in a statement.

The U.S. leader congratulated Modi, the incumbent chief minister of India's western state of Gujarat, on his party's success in the polls.

"The president noted he looks forward to working closely with Mr. Modi to fulfill the extraordinary promise of the U.S.-India strategic partnership, and they agreed to continue expanding and deepening the wide-ranging cooperation between our two democracies, " the White House said.

Modi is expected to take over the premiership as early as next week from the ruling Congress Party.

He was denied a visa in 2005 by Washington for his alleged role in the communal riots in Gujarat in 2002, in which over 1,000 people, mostly minority Muslims, were killed.

In February, the outgoing U.S. Ambassador to India Nancy Powell visited Modi at his home in Gujarat, apparently seeking an end to the estrangement.

And in March, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian affairs Nisha Biswal said the United States was ready to do business with Modi "if he becomes the next Indian prime minister."

"I can tell you that the prime minister of India will be welcomed to the United States," White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters at a daily press briefing. "And I would also note that U.S. officials, including Ambassador Powell, have met with Mr. Modi, so he is certainly not unknown to us."