Russia to boost non-oil exports to India – Moscow

Russia plans to increase non-resource, non-energy exports to India to $8 billion by 2030, First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov told reporters on Monday. Manturov is in India on an official visit as co-chair of a Russian-Indian commission on trade, economic, scientific, technical and cultural cooperation, which is set to meet on Tuesday.   

“We have plans to boost Russian non-resource, non-energy exports to India. In 2023, the volume of industrial exports reached $3.2 billion, and we aim to grow this to $8 billion by 2030,” Manturov revealed, as cited by TASS.

Addressing an Indo-Russian business forum in Mumbai, the minister noted the progress in diversifying trade between the two nations – an issue both New Delhi and Moscow have acknowledged and have pledged to resolve in order to make long-term economic cooperation more sustainable. 

Manturov stressed the importance of developing new logistics routes connecting Russia and India, including the North-South transport corridor (INSTC) running via Iran, as well as the Northern Sea Route and shipments between Vladivostok in Russia’s Far East to Chennai on the southeast coast of India. “The potential for further reducing logistics costs also lies in increasing supply intensity. The more cargo there is, the more efficient and cheaper logistics would become,” Manturov noted. 

India has become Russia’s second largest importer of crude oil in the past two years. Russia is also interested in facilitating long-term supplies of LNG and coal to India, Manturov, noted. “Russian coal mining enterprises have significant resources and are interested in expanding their presence in the rapidly growing Indian market,” he added. 

Read more

Oil, nuclear power, and sustainable trade: Putin-Modi summit’s key outcomes

The deputy prime minister underscored the potential of exporting goods and services jointly produced by Russian and Indian companies in the South Asian nation to third markets, adding that the two countries have “all the necessary resources” to enable this, including “industrial and technological potential, investment resources, and logistics infrastructure.” The targeted markets include the Middle East, Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia, Manturov said. “We can leverage the competitive advantages of our countries not only for exporting jointly developed products to new markets but also for implementing [joint] investment projects,” he added

Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar, who addressed the forum alongside Manturov, underscored that the two countries have “many new avenues” for expanding cooperation and that bilateral trade, which reached $66 billion last year, can easily reach a target of $100 billion by 2030. The goal was set by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during their bilateral summit in Moscow in July this year.

To facilitate more interactions between businesses of the two countries, the Russian Business Council for Cooperation with India is opening an office in New Delhi that will be instrumental in helping Indian companies access the Russian market, Sergey Cheremin, minister of government and head of the Department of Foreign Economic and International Relations of Moscow, announced on Monday. According to Cheremin, the office will include a permanent exhibition of Russian products and technologies, a consulting center for companies from both countries, and a recruitment agency for hiring workers for various sectors.