Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal said on Thursday that both sides need to balance their trade, pointing to opportunities in consumer goods, food products, automobiles, tractors, heavy commercial vehicles, electronics such as smartphones, industrial components, and textiles. He also stressed on the need to reduce trade barriers.
“Russia is India’s sukh dukh ka saathi meaning Russia is India’s companion in happiness and in sorrow,” Goyal said, at the India-Russia Business Forum.
Speaking at the meeting, Maxim Oreshkin, deputy chief of staff of the presidential executive office of Russia said India’s share in Russia’s imports is currently less than 2%, which needs to be raised to achieve a more balanced trade.
He said India can boost supplies to Russia in six areas: agriculture, pharmaceuticals, telecom equipment, industrial components, and human resources.
Oreshkin is part of the Russian delegation led by President Vladimir Putin, who is on a nearly 27-hour visit to New Delhi starting Thursday evening.
“Russian delegation and businesses are here for a specific purposes and that is to increase supplies of Indian goods and services,” Oreshkin said, adding that India is one of the key drivers of the global economy and that the country’s capabilities to supply to Russia haven’t been fully utilised.
Russia, he said, is ready to welcome Indian goods and services, and will provide support in logistics, payments, and certification.
Growing trade ties with Russia are crucial as India continues to face 50% US tariffs, half of which are penal tariffs for New Delhi’s continued purchases of Russian oil. Russia is also facing western sanctions due to its war with Ukraine.
Goyal said India-Russia bilateral trade is reaching $70 billion, “but we cannot rest, we need to grow, we need to balance that”, as the trade gap is “very” skewed.
“We need to bring more diversity in our trade basket,” said Goyal. “We need to make it more balanced. We need more variety and there is so much to offer between the two countries.” He emphasised that there is untapped potential in trade which needs to be explored.
India exported $4.9 billion worth of goods to Russia in FY25, while imports were at $63.8 billion, leaving a trade deficit of about $59 billion.
“We can take so much from Russia, and we have so much to offer to Russia,” said Goyal. “Sky is the limit…and that will address the trade imbalance in the near future…we will work together to eliminate or reduce or dilute the trade barriers, if any.”
The minister also said that India can offer its expertise in the services sector. Russia has a talent shortage of about three million, which can be met by India
EAEU, trade composition
At the meeting, commerce secretary Rajesh Agrawal emphasised on the need to simplify processes to allow Indian businesses to increase exports to Russia.
Agrawal said to achieve the $100-billion bilateral trade target by 2030 and make it more balanced, there is a need to change the composition of goods traded.
“There are multiple areas where India’s exports to Russia are missing right now whether it is auto, auto components, textiles, leather, pharma, healthcare, and IT services,” he said, adding India can help Moscow diversify trade and make the supply chains more resilient.
Noting that there is immense scope to grow trade in agricultural and marine sectors, he said both sides have to work on making rules and procedures simpler for businesses.
“The task in the government is clear. Can we make things easier for our businesses to trade on both sides. The regulators need to talk to each other, understand and resolve issues and not add issues,” Agrawal said, adding standards and certification of either country should match each other.
The commerce secretary also urged for long-term predictable processes to provide confidence to businesses.