India has become Russia's second business partner after China.
A meeting of the Russian-Indian intergovernmental commission on trade, economic, scientific, technical and cultural cooperation was held in Delhi on Tuesday. According to RIA Novosti, First Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Denis Manturov said that over the past five years the volume of mutual trade has increased more than fivefold. As a result, India came in second place among Russia's foreign economic partners. The day before, Manturov was received by the head of the Indian government Narendra Modi. He stressed that the relations between the two countries are strengthening. This applies to the economy and foreign policy. But experts point to a giant bias in the trade balance in favor of Russia. The transfer of settlements from the dollar to the currencies of the two countries did not help to eliminate the imbalance.
The Indian press talks about Modi's conversation with Manturov in a positive way. The Economic Times writes that the issue of how to expand cooperation in trade, economic relations, energy and other areas was discussed. The meeting confirmed the desire of both parties to strengthen the relations of a particularly privileged strategic partnership between Moscow and Delhi.
Modi also pointed out that it is necessary to implement the agreements reached during his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin this year. Modi, according to the Prime Minister's Office, conveyed his good wishes to Putin.
Delhi, according to the Hindu newspaper, advocated the creation of a free trade zone between India and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU). This was stated by Indian Foreign Minister Subramanyam Jaishankar at the Russian-Indian business forum in Mumbai. The EAEU is an association that consists of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia. The free trade proposal was also discussed at Modi's meeting with Putin in Moscow in July. The parties then spoke in favor of removing non-tariff obstacles to India's business ties with the EAEU. In other words, the parties want to liberalize trade relations.
Meanwhile, Russia's trade with India reached $60 billion. According to Manturov, according to the results of eight months of 2024, the trade turnover between the two countries increased by 9%. "What is important is that this growth is accompanied by the diversification of the structure of mutual trade. Along with the traditional supplies of energy resources and mineral fertilizers, we have increased the export of food, primarily sunflower and soybean oil," said the First Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation.
And Russia, in turn, in addition to purchasing agricultural products, imports industrial equipment, components, medicines from India.
The Indian Foreign Minister said earlier in Australia that Delhi is ready to contribute to the settlement of the crisis in Ukraine. India calls for de-escalation and peace negotiations between Kiev and Moscow. Putin praised India's peace initiative.
In an interview with NG, Sergey Lunev, a professor at MGIMO, noted: "In fact, it is very difficult for India to reduce the deficit in trade settlements with Russia. Russian exports to India exceed imports from India to Russia by 30-40 times. Russia has accumulated reserves in Indian rupees. What to do with them, a big question. The Russian company AFC System has invested more than $3 billion in telecommunications in India. She had a dispute with Indian partners. The case reached the Indian court. He made a verdict in favor of an Indian company. Similarly, other Russian firms lost lawsuits in Indian courts. So far, our companies have not been able to make money in India in this field."
According to the expert, there is an idea to expand trade with India along the "North-South bridge", which will pass through the territory of Iran, the Caspian Sea, further along the Volga, and other Russian rivers. This would dramatically revive mutual trade. This idea is about three decades old. But in order to implement it, it is necessary to deepen the ports in Russian rivers so that they can accept international-class vessels. It is also necessary to increase the capacity of railways, which is also very difficult to do. Until this is done, it is more profitable for Russian entrepreneurs to buy not Indian goods, but products from other countries that are closer.