NEW DELHI, Aug. 8 (Reuters) —A crowd of about 4,000, mostly members of India's pro Moscow Communist party, gave Foreign Minister Gromyko a tumultuous welcome at New Delhi's Palam Airport. Many carried Soviet flags and banners with slogans supporting the Bengali independence movement in East Pakistan.

As Mr. Gromyko, dressed in a tweed suit and perspiring in the monsoon humidity, stepped from his special plane, representatives of the Communist party and Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's ruling Congress party, draped flower garlands around his shoulders.

No formal agenda has been drawn up for the talks, but it seems certain they will center on the Pakistani crisis: The is sues will include United States arms sales to Pakistan and the social and economic effects on India of the influx of East Pakistani refugees.

Some form of Soviet commitment to India would rep resent a major diplomatic coup because Indian relations with the United States are currently at a low ebb.

India is disturbed by the continuation of United States arms supplies to Pakistan after the Minister for External Affairs, Swaran Singh, said he had been given a promise in Washington that they would he halted.

There is also anger at American support for a suggestion that United Nations observers, be placed on both sides of India's border with East Pakistan. India says this equates, India and West Pakistan in a crisis that is entirely of West Pakistan's making. The Pakistani Army began to move last March to crush East Pakistan's autonomy movement.

In a brief welcoming speech, Mr. Singh said that he hoped the talks Mr. Gromyko would have with Indian leaders would promote the cause of peace and security in South Asia.

Mr. Gromyko replied that he hoped the conversations would be fruitful and would promote the cause of further developing and deepening the friendly cooperation between our countries.”

A few hours later, Mr. Gromyko met with Mr. Singh. Indian officials said later that the meeting had been basically to settle the agenda for full fledged talks opening tomorrow.

They said that the agenda had three main points—bilateral cooperation, international problems and recent developments in the region. The officials did not elaborate, but agreed in reply to a newsman's question that “recent developments” could cover the East Pakistanis' move for independence and Chinese‐United States relation.

The officials said that the in dependence issue and the influx of millions of refugees into India from East Pakistan had not been touched upon today in any detail. But they said that these points would definitely figure in talks Mr. Gromyko would have tomorrow with Mr. Singh and Prime Minister Gandhi.

Some observers said that Mr. Gromyko's visit had raised hopes in India of stronger Soviet support for her stand on the East Pakistan situation.