India plans to boost Russia exports: 300 products identified for $100bn trade target

New Delhi: The Indian government has taken a big step to increase exports to Russia. The government has identified about 300 such products, which are in high demand in Russia and in which Indian companies can easily increase their grip. These include major sectors like engineering goods, pharmaceuticals (medicines), agricultural products and chemicals. This initiative is also important because India and Russia together have set a target of bringing bilateral trade to 100 billion dollars by 2030.

At present, India's total export to Russia in these selected products is only 1.7 billion dollars, whereas Russia imports about $37.4 billion from all over the world in these categories. This difference indicates that India has a huge potential to increase its presence in the Russian market. At present, India's trade deficit with Russia is about 59 billion dollars. According to TOI, the 300 products selected by the Ministry of Commerce have been decided by combining India's supply capacity and the needs of Russia. India currently accounts for only 2.3 percent of Russia's total import needs.

Meanwhile, India's imports from Russia have increased more than ten times in the last four years. In the year 2020, India bought goods worth only $5.94 billion from Russia, but in 2024 it increased to 64.24 billion dollars. The biggest reason for this increase is the import of crude oil. India bought oil worth $2 billion from Russia in 2020, while in 2024 this figure reached $57 billion. Now Russia's share in India's total crude oil imports has become quite high. Apart from this, India also imports manure and vegetable oil in large quantities from Russia.

Imports in 2020: $5.94 billion

Imports in 2024:64.24 billion dollars

Talking about exports, India can perform well in agriculture and its related products. India currently sends agricultural products worth 452 million dollars to Russia, while the global demand of Russia is 3.9 billion dollars. Similarly, there are a lot of opportunities in engineering. India now sends engineering goods worth only 90 million dollars to Russia, whereas Russia needs 2.7 billion dollars.

Experts believe that Russia is reducing its dependence on China, so India can take advantage of this opportunity. There is also a big gap in chemical and plastic products. India sends goods worth 135 million dollars there, while Russia's demand is 2.06 billion dollars.

Of all this, the biggest opportunity is in the field of medicines. India currently sends medicine worth 546 million dollars to Russia, while Russia imports medicines worth 9.7 billion dollars every year. India's generic medicines have a strong recognition across the world, so rapid expansion in this sector is possible.

Apart from this, India also has good opportunities in areas like textiles, readymade clothes, leather, handicrafts, processed food and light engineering goods. At present, India's market share of electronics and textiles in Russia is less than 1 percent, but considering the large Russian population and increasing demand, if Indian companies build a better distribution network, then these sectors can also grow rapidly.