New Delhi, Dec 4: Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Thursday said India and Russia must work together to bring greater diversity and balance to their trade basket as he highlighted the huge opportunity in the bilateral economic partnership.
In his address at the India-Russia Business Forum here, Goyal said: “Bilateral trade between the two countries is reaching $70 billion, but we cannot rest, we need to grow, we need to balance that.”
Goyal highlighted vast untapped opportunities for Indian exporters in sectors such as automobiles, electronics, heavy machinery, textiles, and food products, as both sides work to reduce trade barriers and expand business opportunities.
“I am sure we will address the trade imbalance in the near future and work collectively to reduce trade barriers, if any, and work to create the right conditions to open more opportunities for businesses in both countries,” he said “We need to bring more diversity to our trade basket. We need to make it more balanced between Russia and India,” Goyal remarked.
He also said that the India-Russia partnership is time-tested and has “stood as a testament to decades of unwavering solidarity, enduring the many uncertainties of a changing world”. Addressing the meeting, Maxim Oreshkin, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Russia’s Presidential Executive Office, said that India’s share in Russia’s imports is less than 2 per cent and it needs to be increased for a more balanced trade between the two countries.
Oreshkin said that the six major areas in which India can increase exports to Russia include agriculture, pharma, telecom equipment, industrial components, and human resources. Merchandise trade between the two nations touched $68.7 billion in FY25, but Indian exports to Russia remained under $5 billion, while imports were close to $64 billion due to large oil imports.
The two countries have fixed a target of $100 billion in bilateral trade by 2030. Engineering goods remain India’s top export to Russia at $1.3 billion in FY25, followed by electronic goods worth $862.5 million and drugs and pharmaceuticals at $577.2 million.
Other major shipments include organic and inorganic chemicals, marine products, and ready-made garments. Some of India’s top imports from Russia in FY25 include crude oil at nearly $57 billion, animal and vegetable fats and oils at $2.4 billion, fertilisers at $1.8 billion, and pearls, precious, and semi-precious stones at $433.93 million.
India has stepped up its efforts to diversify exports, especially in the wake of the sharp hike in US tariffs rolled out by the Trump administration, and is in talks for a free trade agreement with the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU).
IANS
