India, Russia look at cementing trade and investment ties

New Delhi, Dec 4 The India-Russia bilateral relationship has remained strong and stable over the past 78 years with a shared commitment to a multipolar world as well to expand the engagement beyond the traditional military, nuclear and space cooperation, an official statement said on Thursday, ahead of the Russian President Vladimir Putin’s two-day visit to India.

In the past two years, the bilateral trade has expanded significantly. During President Vladimir Putin’s visit, starting Thursday, discussions will be held on ways to increase exports from India as well as developing new models of cooperation.

Both countries are also looking to strengthen inter-regional cooperation, especially with the Russian Far East and promote connectivity initiatives like the International North-South Transport Corridor, the Chennai-Vladivostok Eastern Maritime Corridor and the Northern Sea Route, according to the official statement.

There is a synergy between Russia’s pivot to the East, its resources and technology and India’s own flagship initiatives such as 'Atmanirbhar Bharat' and 'Make in India', the statement said.

During External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar’s visit to Moscow in August this year, India and Russia pushed to accelerate progress towards the $100 billion bilateral trade target by 2030, including work on the India-EAEU FTA and two new Indian consulates in Russia.

India and Russia advanced sectoral cooperation in 2025 through multiple high-level engagements, including maritime consultations and Russia’s participation in India Energy Week 2025.

The high-level maritime consultations held in New Delhi were led by Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and Nikolai Patrushev on November 17, 2025. Both sides reviewed shipbuilding, port development, logistics and Arctic cooperation, reaffirmed their strategic partnership, and agreed to deepen collaboration to build a resilient, efficient and sustainable maritime framework supporting long-term connectivity and growth.

The primary mechanism at the government level for enhancing trade and economic cooperation is the India-Russia Intergovernmental Commission for Trade, Economic, Scientific & Cultural Cooperation (IRIGC-TEC), co-chaired by EAM from the Indian side and First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov from the Russian side.

The 26th session of the IRIGC-TEC was held on August 20, 2025 in Moscow and focused on addressing tariff and non-tariff trade barriers, removing bottlenecks in logistics, promoting connectivity, effecting payment mechanisms smoothly, timely finalization and execution of the Programme of Economic Cooperation till 2030.

The session also emphasised the early conclusion of the India–Eurasian Economic Union FTA, whose terms of reference were finalised, along with the need for regular interaction between businesses of both countries to achieve the revised bilateral trade target of $100 billion by 2030.

Following the plenary session, the Protocol for the 26th Session of IRIGC-TEC was signed by the co-chairs. Both countries are working towards ambitious targets set by their leaders: $50 billion in mutual investments by 2025 and $100 billion in annual bilateral trade by 2030.

Bilateral trade has grown rapidly and reached a record $68.7 billion in FY 2024-25, with Indian exports at $4.9 billion, comprising mainly pharmaceuticals, chemicals, iron and steel, and marine products while imports from Russia stood at $63.8 billion consisting primarily of crude oil and petroleum products, sunflower oil, fertilisers, coking coal, and precious stones.

Bilateral trade in services has remained stable during the last few years. It amounted to $1.021 billion for the year 2021. Bilateral investments between the two countries remain strong with a target of $50 billion investment by 2025. The major bilateral investments by Russia in India are in the oil and gas, petrochemicals, banking, railways and steel sectors, while Indian investments in Russia are mainly in oil and gas and pharmaceuticals sectors.

The statement also highlights that defence is one of the most important parts of the strong friendship and strategic partnership between India and Russia. The longstanding and wide-ranging military technical cooperation between the two countries has evolved from a buyer-seller framework to one involving joint research, development and production of advanced defence technologies and systems.

Russia is also an important source for the supply of defence equipment, engines, spare parts and components. Several defence platforms are also assembled or produced in India such as T-90 tanks and Su-30 MKI aircraft. Both sides have also been exploring co-development and co-production of defence equipment and platforms, including the possibility of export to other countries such as the Brahmos missile system.

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