Mumbai, July 17 - US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Mumbai late Friday night to begin her five-day visit to India.

Her special aircraft landed at 10.15 p.m., with rains and strong winds lashing the airport area. An extra-tight security blanket was thrown around the airport.

She was received at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Internationl Airport (CSIA) by central and Maharashtra state protocol officials, representatives of the US Consulate and American Centre in Mumbai and US embassy in New Delhi. Officials held large umbrellas over Clinton to shield her from the rain as she alighted from the aircraft.

At around 10.50 p.m., her entourage comprising nearly 25 vehicles started out of the airport to proceed to south Mumbai's Colaba. The motorcade, which comprised her staff, government officials, security personnel and US media personnel, passed through the new Bandra-Worli sea link.

In a symbolic gesture, Clinton will spend the night at the Hotel Taj Mahal Palace & Tower - which was one of the sites targeted during the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.

She will speak at a commemorative event in the memory of 26/11 victims Saturday morning.

Among the first engagements Saturday morning would be a breakfast meeting with around 10 of Mumbai's top names in the corporate world, including Mukesh Ambani, Swati Piramal, Jamshyd Godrej, Chanda Kochhar. No agenda has been fixed for the meeting.

Her visit would focus on starting the Phase III of the India-US strategic partnership and give a fillip to the civil nuclear and defence ties between the two countries.